Angelic Tyranny
by Kina Kalamari
Summary: -COMPLETE- After a cruel trick and a devastating fight with Max, Angel leaves the flock and breaks off on her own. What could Angel be planning, with all those powers up her sleeve?
1. A Cabin In The Mountains

**A/N: This is my first fanfic. Hope you enjoy it!**

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****Chapter 1: The Cabin In The Mountains**

Max's POV

Really. People can be so annoying sometimes. It was getting to the point where I just wanted to strangle someone to vent. Well, not just _someone_. I'll be specific. Angel. I really was getting close to strangling her. As much as I adored her, her mind control was starting to get on my nerves.

"But Max," she said, in that too-cute little voice of hers. "I just wanted to have some fun. We never do anything fun anymore." She stuck out her lower lip slightly and gave me those dratted Bambi eyes.

I sighed, my fingers twitching. "Angel, honey, you can't just go popping into people's heads and making them run into things. As much fun as it might be." _Depending on your definition of fun,_ I thought sourly. Angel's attitude was beginning to get slightly out of control, and I wasn't at all sure that I liked where it was headed. Her new favorite pastime seemed to be messing with peoples' thoughts for entertainment. I was starting to wonder what had happened to my sweet little girl.

"But I didn't do any real harm," Angel said. "Getting hit on the forehead with a phone pole won't do any _real _damage, will it?" She looked up at me. "That guy will just have a little headache, right? That's what Gazzy said."

I rubbed my temples, desperately trying to maintain my self-control. "Ange, the problem isn't that you may have permanently injured someone, though that would have been bad. The problem is that you seem to think that it's okay to play with people's minds."

"I never hurt anyone though," she protested. "I just make them do funny stuff. I like making people laugh."

"That's nice, Angel," I said. "But you're entertaining people at the expense of other people. That's not okay. Everyone has free will, and you making them do what you want isn't right. They should be able to always have control over their actions. You are taking away their free will."

Angel didn't look at all sorry. She just stood there, absent-mindedly twisting one of her curly, golden locks around her finger. I was at a loss. None of my reprimands were having any effect on her attitude. I had no idea what to do. So, being my soft, lenient self, I let her off.

"Okay, Angel," I said. "You can go do whatever it was you wanted to do. However," I added as she turned to go. "I don't want you messing with anyone's thoughts for entertainment again. Okay?"

"Okay, Max." She skipped out of the kitchen, probably heading for the television or something.

I honestly didn't expect her to listen to me. In fact, I was almost certain that the next morning I would find her and Gazzy in the park, running people into trees. What was up with those kids? They never listened. I was fairly sure that if Angel hadn't been being so naughty, Gazzy would have been perfectly contrite and obedient. But his sister was being a bad influence, and he seemed inclined to listen to her instead of me. I sighed, remembering the good old days when no one would have even thought of disobeying me when I told them to do something. What had happened?

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. I peered around the doorframe into the living room. Fang and Iggy seemed to have returned from their "hunting" trip. Fang came into the kitchen and set his backpack on the table.

"Tuna," he said. "Lots and lots of tuna. That quickie mart hasn't restocked in a while."

I groaned. "I am so sick of tuna."

He grimaced. "Who here isn't? It's all we've had to eat for a week now."

"I know, I know," I said, leaning back against the counter. "Everyone wants to take a trip to see my mom, just so we can get some decent grub. I've heard that already, but it's too risky. There are still people looking for us, and I _won't_ lead them to her and Ella."

"I understand that, Max," Fang said quietly. "But we haven't seen any sign of _anything_ for months now. Don't you think we could count it as safe and at least try? We're not going to get anywhere hiding out in this cabin forever. We have to leave at some point."

I rubbed my temples again. Today was proving to be rather stressful, and it was giving me a headache. "I know. When would you suggest we leave?"

"Tomorrow," he said. "The sooner the better. Everyone's getting cabin fever."

"Is that where you think Angel's new hobby came from?"

Fang shrugged. "It's possible. She just needs something to do."

"But couldn't she find something a little more civil? She's running people into trees because she thinks it's fun!" I sighed.

Fang looked at me in sympathy. "All the more reason to leave. Soon."

I nodded. "You're right, of course. You usually are." He smiled slightly at that comment. "Let's go get everyone together. We'll leave in the morning."

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I smiled into the wind and closed my eyes. Flying was so _exhilarating_. I swooped up and back, doing a backflip in midair. We were finally leaving that stuffy cabin in the mountains, and I don't think a single member of the Flock was sorry about it. I know I certainly wasn't. Now we were on our way to Arizona to visit my mom and sister. What could have been better than that? The thought of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies was making my mouth water, so I quickly turned my thoughts to other things before I started drooling on Gazzy, who was flying below me.

I looked over at Fang, who was flying steadily beside me, his big black wings glinting in the sun. He caught me looking at him and smiled at me. I blushed and looked away. What was with that?

"Hey, Max!" Nudge interrupted my thoughts. "I'm hungry." She looked at me pleadingly. "Can we get some food please?"

Of course. I should have known. When was Nudge _not_ hungry? I surveyed the ground below us. There was a small fast food restaurant a little ways ahead of us.

"Sure," I said. "We'll stop at the fast food place and get something to eat."

I was answered with a chorus of "Thanks, Max!" I smiled. The Flock was so easy to please.

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**A/N: If I get enough reviews I'll continue it. **

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	2. Home, Sweet Home

**A/N: I got some positive reviews, so here's the next chapter. In response to Flyingtothestars' review, I would probably say that it's set after the fourth book. Thank you for reviewing!**

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Chapter 2: Home, Sweet Home**

Max's POV

"Of course you can come in!" my mom said immediately. "Do you really think I'd leave you standing on my doorstep?"

I grinned. "It's not polite to barge into other people's residences," I recited in my best 'strict adult' voice.

My mom smiled at me. "This is your home too, Max, whenever you want it. Now, come in. I'm just fixing dinner."

At the word 'dinner', there was a stampede to get through the door.

"Hey, no pushing!"

"I was here first!"

"Quit shoving!"

"Gazzy, Nudge, Iggy," I said loudly. "Be nice. The food will still be there, whether you go through the door first or not."

"Not at the rate Iggy eats," Nudge muttered, but she stepped out of the way to let the boys through.

"I heard that! And I don't eat that fast," Iggy protested, walking past her. "You're worse than I am."

Nudge opened her mouth to argue, but Fang interrupted her.

"Let's just all get inside and have some dinner, all right?" he said placidly.

"Okay Fang," Nudge said, lowering her head ashamedly. "Sorry."

I looked over at Fang with a questioning look in my eyes. How had that one sentence managed to shut Nudge up? He just shrugged and followed Nudge inside.

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I yawned and pushed my chair back from the table. Dinner had been excellent, and Mom had obligingly made a lot more food than she'd been planning to in order to sate our enormous appetites.

"Are you full?" my mom asked me.

"Overly so," I replied, groaning. "I need to sleep. You don't mind us staying here for the night, do you?"

"Of course not. We've got plenty of extra space."

"Well, I don't know about _plenty_," Ella said, laughing. "It may be a bit cramped."

"A bit," my mom agreed, beginning to clear the table. "We've got the guest room, the couch, and someone can share Ella's room. You'll all fit."

In the end, Fang got the couch, Gazzy and Iggy camped out on the living room floor, Nudge and Angel took the guest room, and Ella cleared a spot for me on her bedroom floor. She tried to convince me to take the bed, but I just reminded her that I was more than used to sleeping on rocks, and that her carpet would feel like a feather bed.

The Flock gathered in the guest room to do our nightly routine of stacking and tapping our fists. Then we went our separate ways to bed. Fang caught up to me in the hall as I was heading to Ella's room.

"How long are you planning to stay here?" he asked.

I hadn't really thought about it. "I don't know. As long as necessary, I guess."

"But how long is 'necessary'? What are we doing after this?"

I frowned. "Well…"

He shook his head. "You don't have any idea what we're doing, do you?"

"No. I mean, we're not completely safe here. I'm still supposed to save the world, but how? And where do we need to go?"

"The Voice hasn't said anything?"

"No." I sighed in frustration. "It's been unbelievably quiet. I would usually welcome the silence, but how else am I going to find out where to go or what to do?"

He leaned against the wall, looking thoughtful. "Maybe that means we aren't supposed to be doing anything right now. I suppose we could just try to enjoy our brief respite."

I looked at him. His dark hair fell over his eyes, but I thought I caught a glimmer of amusement in his black eyes. I sighed with…what? I wasn't really sure. But seeing Fang standing there, perfectly nonchalant, grinning at me, with his eyes anyway, made my heart jump in odd, erratic patterns. I looked away, took a deep breath, and turned back to him.

"I suppose we could," I agreed.

I could tell Fang had noticed my pause, and my sigh. I thought he looked slightly confused, but that could just have been my overactive imagination. Then the confusion, which might not have actually been there, faded, to be replaced by something I couldn't quite identify. It some sort of mix between happiness and sadness. I decided not to ponder it, since it would probably get me nowhere.

Fang smiled at me. "Well then, good night Max." Then he turned around and headed for the living room.

"Good night Fang," I murmured. He didn't turn around, but I could tell that he'd heard me. I saw him smile slightly as he turned the corner.

I sighed again, and headed upstairs.

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**A/N: Please review!**


	3. Arguing

**A/N: Okay, I realized that I seem to have forgotten the disclaimer in the first two chapters, so here it is:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, James Patterson does, I only own the plot and any OC's I may decide to add later in the story.**

**Now, on with chapter three!  
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Chapter 3: Arguing**

Max's POV

I woke up the next morning to the wonderful aroma of waffles. I groaned and rolled over onto my side. _Mmmmm…_

When I finally made it down to the kitchen, everyone except Nudge was already there.

"Nudge still sleeping?" I asked.

"Yeah," Angel replied. "I think I'll go wake her up." She left the kitchen with a not-too-nice grin on her face. I frowned. What was up with Angel these days? She was definitely not acting like the sweet little girl I knew and loved. I shook the bad thoughts off and went to sit at the table with the rest of the Flock.

Approximately five minutes later we were startled out of our seats by the shout of, "ANGEL!!!! YOU ROTTEN LITTLE WITCH!!!!!"

I ran upstairs to see Nudge holding Angel in a headlock, looking positively murderous. Then I noticed Nudge's hair. The caramel-colored strands were no longer quite so caramel. In fact, it wasn't caramel at all. It was a deep, dark, jet black. I had to admit, Nudge didn't look too bad with black hair, but what had caused it?

Then I looked at Angel, struggling in Nudge's grip, and immediately knew the answer to my question. Angel. Why would she do that though? As far as I knew, Nudge and Angel had been getting along fine. I grimaced as I realized that Angel had once again done something nasty and completely unprovoked.

"What's going on?" I asked, even though I had pretty much figured out what was going on. It would be good to get their sides of the story.

Angel looked up at me, her face perfectly innocent. "Oh, hi Max."

"Oh, hi Max?!" Nudge repeated incredulously. "You DYED my HAIR, and all you have to say is, 'Oh, hi Max'?" Nudge's voice got progressively shriller as she spoke. "I should lock you in a room with Gazzy, or throw you off the top of a twenty story building, not that that would do much, or pull your feathers in your sleep, or-"

"Nudge," I interrupted, feeling the beginnings of another headache. "Could you please calm down and tell me what happened?"

"She came in and dyed my hair while I was sleeping," Nudge said angrily. "She used her powers to keep me asleep, then took some of Dr. Martinez's black hair dye and turned my hair black as a wake up call." Oh, so my mom dyed her hair? Interesting. "I woke up to this, Max." She pointed to her head. "And her standing over me with the bottle. Then she said, 'Wakey, wakey!'"

I stared at Angel. "Ange, why'd you do that? You could have just shaken her shoulder or something."

Angel grinned at me. "I always thought Nudge would look better with black hair. So, I thought I'd try it out. And I was right. She looks fabulous!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. "Nudge, let her go."

"But…but…" Nudge looked at me, aghast. "You're just going to let her get away with it? She dyed my hair! Without my permission! I don't care _how_ good it looks, I-"

I cut her off. "I am _not_ going to let her get away with it," I said. "What she did was wrong. I just think you should go have breakfast and let me deal with this."

Nudge grumbled, but released Angel. "Fine, but if you don't punish her, I will." Then she turned and went downstairs.

Once Nudge had left, I turned to Angel. She was looking up at me, a little too unconcerned for my liking, like she knew I wouldn't do anything to her. Well, why should she think I would? I had almost always let her off easy.

"Okay, Angel, why did you dye Nudge's hair? Did she do something to you? Was this revenge?"

Angel shook her head. "I told you. I thought she'd look better with black hair."

"Angel, you're doing it again," I said. "You're forcing someone to do something that they didn't choose. That dye is semi-permanent, and Nudge can't just wash it out. She's going to be stuck with black hair for-" I grabbed the bottle out of Angel's hand and checked the label. "Five to six months, and there's nothing she can do about it! And you're telling me that you had absolutely no reason to do it, except that _you_ thought it would look good."

Angel cocked her head. "Yup."

I stared at her, flabbergasted. "Angel! That's bad! Why would you do that to someone?"

"Something interesting needed to happen," she said. "It was getting boring around here."

"The throw a party!" I growled through my teeth, beginning to lose control of my temper. "Do something _fun_. _Don't_ do something that will have lasting affects on a Flock member against their will! You used to understand that! What happened? Why did you suddenly decide that it was okay to manipulate other people?"

"Maaxx," she whined. "I didn't do anything dangerous or harmful! I'm just entertaining myself, because no one seems to be doing anything worthwhile!" Angel looked at me with her Bambi eyes, but for once, I was immune.

"No, Angel!" I yelled. "This is getting out of hand! You need to stop doing things like this _now_, or I'm going to have to do something about it!" I almost immediately regretted yelling at her like that, but to my surprise, she didn't start crying or look at me sadly. Instead, she glared at me, and her glare was so full of anger, I almost didn't recognize her.

"Okay Max!" she snarled, and yes, I did say 'snarled'. My little Angel just snarled at me, and she looked vicious. "I've had enough. You always think you're so high and mighty! Well, I've got news for you. _I_ am the better one here. _I_ am the one who should be leader, and _you_ should be somewhere where you can't hurt anyone. Everyone you come into contact with you gets hurt! Remember when Fang was almost killed by Ari? Whose fault was _that_? Or how about when I got taken by the School? You could've stopped them! But you didn't! You left me! How about when Ari died? What did you do about that? Nothing!" Something deep in my subconscious was telling me that none of those were my fault, but my conscious self was overpowering it. I _did_ still blame myself for all of those things, especially Ari's death. Angel plowed on. "You're a lousy leader, Max, and the rest of the Flock are idiots for following you! Well, I'm not going to be that stupid! I'm leaving!" And with that, she turned, ran over to the hall window, and flung herself out into the morning air.

I didn't even try to stop her. Everything she had said had hit home, driving through me like needles. I _was _inadequate. I fell to my knees, putting my hands over my face. I felt the tears leaking through, but did nothing to stop them. I'd lost my little Angel, and I'd lost my confidence to lead the Flock.

A few minutes later I became aware of someone kneeling beside me.

"Max, what's wrong? Where's Angel?" It was Fang. Of course.

"She's g-gone," I managed between sobs. "She's gone and it's all my fault."

Fang didn't inquire further. He just put his arm around me and let me cry myself out.

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**N/A: I'm going on vacation, so I may have to put this on hold for a couple weeks, but I'll try my best. ;-D**


	4. Discussion

**A/N: Okay, I got one more in before I leave. This chapter is just kind of fluff, but I promise to "Get on with it!" (to quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail) in the next chapter.**

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Chapter 4: Discussion**

Fang's POV

I was sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for Max and Angel to come back down, when I heard yelling from upstairs. It was definitely Max's voice. Then, to my surprise, I heard Angel yell right back, long and harsh. Okay, time to go see what was going on.

I pushed back my chair and ran toward the stairs. I took them two at a time, but when I got there, Angel was nowhere to be seen and Max was on her knees in the hall with her hands over her face. I went over and knelt beside her.

"Max, what's wrong?" I asked, worried. "Where's Angel?"

"She's g-gone," Max replied, choking on her sobs. "She's gone and it's all my fault."

I put my arms around her, hoping to comfort her, but my mind was reeling. Angel was gone? Why? What did that mean? And what did Max mean by 'it's all my fault'?

After a few minutes, Max sat up and rubbed her hands over her eyes. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. Typical Max. Apologizing for crying, like any normal teenage girl did to deal with the stress of their life. And let me tell you, Max is more stressed than any girl I've met yet. If anyone has the right to cry now and then, it's her.

"Max, what's going on?" I asked, ignoring her unnecessary apology. "Why is Angel gone?"

I could tell that my words threatened to start her crying again, but she stoically held the tears in. "She left the Flock. She said I was a lousy leader and that you guys were idiots for following me." Her voice became quieter, almost a whisper. "She reminded me of the time she was captured by the School, and the time you almost died, and Ari's death." The last two words were so quiet I almost didn't hear them. Then Max looked up at me. "She's right, Fang. I am a lousy leader. Why did I let those things happen? I'm supposed to be strong, invincible. I'm supposed to save the world. But I keep hurting people, not helping them."

This was getting out of hand. I had to interrupt her self-loathing rant. "Max, look. None of those things were your fault. _Ari_ nearly killed me, not you. You did try to save Angel when she was first taken, and even when that failed, you immediately took off to save her."

"I spent three days here," she interrupted quietly. "Wasting time."

"Yes, but think about what would have happened if you hadn't," I said. "You wouldn't have found your family. That was worth it Max, trust me. And Ari's death was most certainly _not your fault_. He had an expiration date, Max. You couldn't have been able to stop that, no matter how hard you tried. How can you still blame yourself for that?"

"I don't know," Max said, looking at her knees. "But I do. Completely."

"Max, if that's anyone's fault, it's Jeb's," I said, slightly exasperated. "He's the one that turned his own son into an Eraser, knowing full well what it would mean."

"But Angel said it," Max said, looking sad and rejected. "That must mean that she blames me too. That I'm not as off track as you say."

"Angel can read minds, Max," I told her. "She just took your own doubts and threw them back in your face. She turned your own mind against you. And even if she did believe that, that doesn't make it true. _I_ don't believe it, and do you think that the rest of the Flock would still be following you if _they_ believed it?"

"Angel was."

I sighed. What could I do to get her out of this depression? What could I say to convince her that the Flock needed and loved her? That _I_ needed her? She seemed to be intent on shooting herself down, but I wouldn't let that happen. For crying out loud, she was Maximum Ride!

I reached out and took her hands in mine. "Okay Max. If we all believed that you were a lousy leader, we would have committed mutiny by now." I was rewarded for my use of the pirate term with a small smile from Max. "The fact is, we're all terrified of the prospect of having to do your job. You do it extraordinarily well, and no one could replace you. Not even me, and we all know how close to perfect I am." Her small smile turned into a grin, and she punched me playfully on the shoulder.

"I suppose at least you didn't say you _were_ perfect," she said. Then she wiped her red eyes again and sniffled a little. "But even if I am an okay leader, we still lost Angel."

I scowled at her use of the word 'okay', when it should have been more along the lines of 'beautiful, smart, wonderful leader', but I didn't argue. "Yes, we did lose Angel, but if she was enough of a brat to actually say all of that to you, it's not much of a loss. If she wants to break off on her own, let her. She'll probably come back in a few days and apologize, saying how wrong she was and giving us the Bambi eyes. And you being the big softie you are, will say 'just don't do it again, okay?' and let her back in. It'll be okay, you'll see." I squeezed her hands to reassure her.

"You seem to be quite the talker this morning," she said, smiling.

I smiled back. "Well, it looks like it worked. You do seem to be in a better mood."

She looked down. "That may have been more due to the sound of your voice than what you were actually saying," she muttered, almost to herself.

"Excuse me?" I asked, curious. "What do you mean by that?"

She blushed furiously. "Oh crap. I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did. What did you mean?"

She refused to meet my eyes. "It's just…your voice. It calms me down. It's like, I don't know, sort of…melodic."

I was intrigued. "Really?"

"Um…yeah." She still wouldn't look up. "It's kind of like music." She blushed again. "You know what? Forget I said anything. That was stupid."

"No it wasn't," I said, looking at her. "It was sweet." I grinned. "So next time I need to calm you down, I can just babble nonsense?"

Max finally looked at me. She was smiling. "No, silly. It sounds the nicest when you actually feel what you're talking about. It kind of loses its harmony when you babble." Then she blushed yet again. "Well, I'm just full of sentimental nonsense today, aren't I?"

I ignored her last question. "When have you ever heard me babble?"

"Oh…uh…" She looked rather embarrassed. "You talk in your sleep, sometimes. You say things like, 'get him' and 'never'. You've mumbled about fried chicken before too, when we were on the run and not getting much to eat. And you've said my name…rather often, actually."

I was mortified. "I didn't think I talked in my sleep!"

She grinned at me, sensing my discomfort. "Oh, you do. All the time. Why, just the other night I heard you talking about your laptop. You called it 'your precious'."

"I did not!" I exclaimed hotly. "You're making that one up!" Then I remembered my dream about Legolas and Gimli talking to me about my blog two nights before, and promptly felt my cheeks get warm.

She laughed. Boy, it was good to hear her laugh. "You old laptop lover, you." Then she imitated the choking 'gollum' noises made by Gollum in The Lord of the Rings.

I growled at her playfully, then tugged on her hands, causing her to fall into my lap. "Laptop lover, eh?" I whispered into her ear. "We'll see about that."

Then I noticed the furious, erratic beating of her heart. I smiled to myself. So, I did have an effect on her. I decided to use that to my advantage. I ran my finger down her back and felt her shiver, then whispered, "So what are you?"

I heard her breath catch in her throat, then she said, somewhat shakily, "A lousy leader."

I put my hand under her chin and turned her face up toward mine. "No Max, you are _not_ a lousy leader. Must we go through this again?"

She stared at me for a moment, then seemed to remember what she was doing. "Yes I am," she objected, but she said it feebly, like she wasn't really trying to make her point.

"No, you're not," I said again.

"You're right, I'm not," she agreed vaguely, staring into my eyes.

I stared back at her. Her eyes were such a pretty color. Like chocolate. Then, the moment was harshly interrupted.

"What are you two _doing_?!"

I looked up to see Dr. Martinez standing at the top of the stairs, staring at us incredulously. Max started and jumped out of my lap.

"N-nothing," she stuttered. "Fang was just…" She looked over at me. "Helping my self-esteem."

Dr. Martinez looked from Max, to me, then back to Max again. She looked skeptical. "Max, we need to talk later, but for right now, there are four children downstairs that would like to know what's going on."

Max looked at me, almost regretfully, then turned and headed down the stairs. I shook my head, trying to clear the cobwebs, and followed her down to face the Flock with the news of Angel's departure.

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**A/N: Review? ;-D**


	5. Why, Angel, why?

**A/N: Sorry, this chapter's kind of short. Thank you to the wonderful people who reviewed. Hugs for you all. Looks like I managed another one before my vacation. Man, I'm just spitting these things out like crazy! Well, I'm sure you loyal readers don't mind. *Ahem* I'll just stop babbling now.  
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**And in response to Niki's review for Chapter 2: Your review didn't give me any way to contact you, so if you want to ask me questions, you're going to have to contact me first. You can click on my username at the top of my story to get to my profile and PM me, if you didn't know that. Sorry it took me so long to respond. **

**Anyway, on with the story!  
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Chapter 5: Why, Angel, why?**

Max's POV

I looked at Fang and felt a flash of regret that our 'moment' had been interrupted, but it quickly went away. Why should I care about 'moments'? I turned and headed downstairs to face the Flock. I felt, more than heard, Fang following me.

When we got to the kitchen, four pairs of eyes turned our direction. When they noticed that Angel wasn't with us, they all got looks of confusion on their faces. Well, except for Iggy, who couldn't tell what was wrong.

"Where's Angel?" asked Gazzy, which cleared things up slightly for Iggy.

"Angel's not here?" Iggy asked, his face now full of matching confusion. "Why?"

"No, Angel's not here," I said. "Angel's gone. She's left the Flock."

"What?!" Gazzy exclaimed. "She's gone?"

I nodded miserably. "She got mad, and jumped out the window. I have no idea where she went."

Gazzy looked close to tears. After all, Angel was his sister. "But…why? What would make her do that?"

I didn't really feel like going through our argument, since I knew it would put me right back where I was before Fang had talked to me. But I also knew that the Flock needed a decent explanation. "Well, as you all probably know, Angel decided to dye Nudge's hair black while she was sleeping. And, before we left the cabin, she'd been messing with people's minds in the park for entertainment." At that remark, Gazzy looked down guiltily. He had been with her during those expeditions, and probably felt quite bad about it. "Anyway, I thought that her behavior was getting out of hand, so I decided to put a stop to it. I told her that it was unacceptable, and she rebelled, saying that she was only having fun. Things got a little out of control, and we had a bit of a shouting match. Then she left, after saying that she was sick of being part of the Flock and following our rules." I left out the part where she had blamed for everything bad that had happened to us, because I really didn't feel like breaking down and crying in front of the Flock. Fang looked over at me, sympathy in his eyes.

"Why would she do that?" Gazzy wondered quietly. "I thought she loved you, Max."

I smiled at him, but it wasn't a happy smile. "I don't know Gazzy," I said. "This was kind of sudden."

There were a few moments of complete silence as everyone contemplated Angel's behavior, then Nudge burst out, "How could she?!"

We all just stared at her blankly. She noticed our looks of incomprehension and elaborated.

"How could Angel do this to us? We're a team! We always stick together, no matter what. And now Angel seems to think that she's above it all! She _yelled_ at Max, she insulted us as a group, and then she _left_. She broke the Flock apart. How. Could. She?!"

We were all silent for a minute, then I said, "I don't know, Nudge. I don't know anything anymore. Maybe this is all a big misunderstanding and Angel will be back soon."

Nudge snorted. "Even if she does come back, I don't want her. I don't care _how_ sorry she is, what she's done can't be forgiven."

"Oh, come on Nudge," Gazzy said. "It was just a little argument. What has Angel _really_ done?"

"What has she done?!" Nudge repeated, staring at Gazzy. "She has ripped our family apart, and, while Max won't admit it, she's ripped Max apart. She has just thrown away everything we've ever worked for, and you're asking me what she's _done_?"

I looked between the two of them. "Okay guys, I know you're both upset, but yelling at each other really isn't what we need right now. Let's just all calm down and try to think things through rationally."

Nudge looked like she wanted to argue, but decided against it. She leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest.

"So, I guess the first step is deciding what to do next," I said.

"You guys can stay here for as long you need to," Ella put in helpfully. "Right Mom?"

"Of course," my mom said.

I looked at them gratefully. "Thanks guys. You're really great." I turned to the Flock. "What do you think? Do we stay here?"

"Yes," Gazzy said. "Then Angel will know where to find us."

Nudge huffed. "No. Then Angel _won't _know where to find us."

"Yes," Iggy said. "Where else would we go?"

"A good point," I said. "Fang?"

He considered for a moment. "I agree with Iggy. We don't really have anywhere else to go. I say we stay here."

I marveled for a minute at how Fang's reply was the wordiest of them all, then said, "Okay, I vote with Ig and Fang, so it looks like we're staying here. Sorry Nudge, but also, just because she knows where to find us doesn't mean we have to let her back in."

I looked around at the Flock. Well, the Flock minus one. We had a plan…sort of. At least that was something.

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**A/N: Review? ;-D**


	6. Angel's Plan

**A/N: I'd like to thank Flyingtothestars for the ideas. I decided to use one of them. And sorry, this chapter's kind of short.**

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**Chapter 6: Angel's Plan**

3rd Person/Angel's POV

Angel watched the land below her as she flew over Texas. She couldn't believe Max. How could Max think that she controlled everyone? She wasn't Queen of the World! So she was supposedly the savior of the world. Big whoop. Well, Angel was sick of it. Max was pushy, repressive, over-controlling, over-protective, and annoying. She didn't know when to let something go.

Angel swooped closer to the ground, looking for somewhere to spend the night. She spotted a motel a little ways ahead and angled herself toward it.

She landed at a run, almost falling on her face. She caught herself, then trotted up to the front door of the motel.

The desk was manned by a young teenage girl, who looked bored out of her mind. Angel went up to and said, in her best sweet little girl voice, "I'd like one room, please."

The girl looked startled. Her thoughts showed extreme confusion. _What the hell? Who is this kid?_ But she answered calmly, "I'm sorry, we can't give rooms to anyone under the age of eighteen. Why don't you find your mother, and come back with her. Do you need to use the phone to call her?"

Angel almost scowled in annoyance, but tried to keep the innocent look plastered onto her face. "No, I don't need to call anyone. I'd like a room." Then she entered the girl's mind and fuzzed over her perspective on Angel. "And you're going to give me one."

The girl's gaze became confused and unfocused. "Of course. That'll be one hundred dollars."

This time Angel did scowl. "No, it won't," she said. "It's free." She pushed the thoughts through the girl's head.

"Of course. Terribly sorry. Here's your key. Room 27. Have a nice night."

"Thank you," Angel said sweetly, then headed for her room.

The room was rather small, but decent. Angel flopped herself down on the queen-sized bed. Then she turned on the television. The reporter seemed to be talking about fish.

"The fish market has been suffering recently, due to oil spills off the Atlantic coast. No one is quite sure of the cause of the multiple spills, but many ships have been sent to investigate. Many types of popular fish reside in that area, and are dying in large amounts."

Angel tuned out the television as a plan began to form in her brain. Fish…she could help with fish. She had been wanting to go back to Washington D.C. She could go talk to the president and offer to help. Maybe she could even help investigate the oil spills. Then the president would be grateful. And a grateful president opened up a _lot_ of possibilities. And Angel could be famous. She'd always wanted to be famous.

She yawned and leaned back against the pillows of the bed. She turned off the television and faded off into sleep, smiling to herself. She had a plan.

_Washington D.C., here I come._

_

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_**A/N: Um...review? :)**


	7. Unexpected Effects

**A/N: A big thank you to the two people who reviewed the last chapter: Flyingtothestars and FireHawk43. Only two...(sigh) It's up to fourteen reviews though. :) Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it!**

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Chapter 7: Unexpected Effects**

Max's POV

I stared despondently at the wall, deep in thought. It had been two days since Angel had left, and we had seen no sign of her. Gazzy had retreated into his room, only coming out when necessary. I felt more sorry for him than I could say, but I didn't know what I could say to help him through it. Nudge was snappy and angry, Iggy was sad, and Fang was…Fang. I knew he was trying not to show what he was feeling; trying to be strong for the rest of the Flock, but his façade didn't work with me. Every now and then I would see a flash of sadness in his eyes, and he was constantly tense, never fully relaxing.

It pained me to see my Flock like this. We were split. Whenever Gazzy and Nudge came across each other, an argument erupted. Nudge was furious with Angel, and Gazzy wouldn't accept that his sister could have possibly betrayed us. They had taken to avoiding each other, and if they had to be in the same room, there was a cold, stony silence that put us all on edge.

Ella and my mom understood what we were going through, even if they didn't fully empathize, so they didn't try to throw us out of the house for our melancholy gloominess. I didn't think I had heard anyone laugh since Angel left, and any smiles were pained and sad. I couldn't believe this had happened.

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on Ella's bedroom door.

"What?" I called, wondering who would want to talk to me. I had been just as gloomy as everyone else.

"Can I come in?" Fang. What did he want?

"Whatever."

The door opened, and Fang slowly came in. As soon as he entered, I could tell something was wrong. He was standing too stiffly, and if I had seen anyone else like this, I would have said that they were about to break down and start crying. But Fang never cried, so what was going on?

"Fang, what's wrong?" I asked, standing up and walking over to him. "Are you okay?"

He slowly shook his head. I was stunned. He was actually admitting that there was something wrong? It must be really bad. Acting on instinct, I grabbed his hand and led him over to the bed, sitting down and pulling him down next to me.

"Tell me what's going on," I ordered.

He was silent for a minute, then said shakily, "I'm losing it, Max. I can't keep it under control anymore."

I was flabbergasted, but I tried not to show my shock. Right now, Fang needed someone to be strong and just listen. So I did. I didn't say anything, indicating for him to continue.

"Angel betrayed us, Max. I don't care what Gazzy believes. She's not coming back. I don't know what she thinks she's doing, but she's doing it. Would you have ever guessed that she would leave?"

I looked at him. "No," I replied. "If you had asked me even last month, I would have said you were crazy."

He nodded slowly. "That's exactly what I mean. How long has she felt this way? Was she always waiting to leave us, or did she just decide? Why would she go against you, of all people? You, who raised her, loved her, helped her. And now she's managed to completely destroy us as a Flock, just by flying away. I just don't know if I can handle that."

Thinking about everything we had been through, and about how Fang had dealt with all of it, I said, "If I can handle it, you can definitely handle it."

Fang looked at me for a minute. "_Can_ you handle it? You've been no better than the rest of us these past two days. How do you feel about this? Maybe if I knew how you felt, it would help me figure things out."

"I feel like someone just decided to use my heart for a pincushion," I replied honestly. "But I can handle it. I still have you four, right? If we can stick together, I think we can get through this."

He looked at me, and for once his eyes showed what he was feeling. He was confused, he was sad, he was in pain from Angel's betrayal, and he was looking at me with such warmth that I felt a little light-headed.

"Max, if we stick together, I _know_ we can get through anything," he said, and somehow I knew he wasn't talking about the Flock when he said 'we'.

I smiled slightly. "Maybe."

He smiled back. "More than maybe." Then he did something that I would never have been able to predict, no matter how long you gave me; the famously emotionless Fang leaned over and hugged me. No, you don't need to rub your eyes and re-read the last sentence. You got it right. Fang _hugged_ me. I hugged him back, just because I didn't want to pull a Fang and turn into a statue. Hm…that doesn't really work in this case, but you get my drift. And in case you're wondering, I did _not_ hug him back because I was enjoying being close to him. Just so you know. That had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.

"Thank you, Max," he whispered in my ear. Then he stood up and walked out of the room, leaving me wondering what exactly had just happened. And why was he thanking me? I didn't remember doing anything. Oh well.

I stood up and followed Fang out of the room. It was time for things to change.

* * *

"Okay, people, listen up," I said sternly. The Flock was gathered in the living room, awaiting my 'Urgent Flock Meeting'. Gazzy was over in one corner, looking severely depressed, and Nudge was in the opposite corner, looking like she would gladly murder anyone who came within arms' reach of her. Iggy was lounging across the couch, eyes closed, his mouth turned down in the frown we all seemed to be wearing these days. Fang was perched (yes, I get the pun, but really, it's not that funny, right?) on the edge of the coffee table, staring intently at the floor.

"These last couple days have been dreadful," I continued. "No one can get along, no one's smiling, no one's laughing, and we're all just plain gloomy. As much as we miss Angel-" This was followed by a derisive snort from Nudge, which I chose to ignore for the present moment. "We can't let this take over our lives. We used to be a family, a flock, and now we're just a discombobulated, unorganized, argumentative group of kids. We need to get our act together, whether it's with Angel or not."

"How can you say that?" Gazzy cried, leaping up from his sitting position in the corner. "Angel's part of the Flock too! We can't just act like she was never here!"

I sighed. "That's not what I was saying, Gazzy. But the point is that she _isn't_ here now, and we need to deal with it. Somehow, we need to figure things out and stop moping."

"What do you suggest we do?" Iggy asked. "Go back to hiding in the mountains eating tuna?"

"No," I replied. "But I do suggest that we try to get along. Gazzy, Nudge, you two need to work out your differences. I know you have different opinions on Angel leaving, but you can't let it come between you like this. You're messing the whole Flock up with your attitudes. Can you at least _try_ to get along?"

Gazzy looked across the room at Nudge. "I can try, I guess."

I smiled at him. "Thank you Gazzy. Nudge?"

She was silent for a moment. "I can try too, but I'm not just going to roll over and agree with him. I have my own opinions on Angel, and I'm keeping them."

"And we respect that," I said. "I know you have your own opinions, and you're completely entitled to those opinions. But if you could keep them to yourself unless it's necessary to voice them, and try to be friendly with each other again, I think the whole house will be happier."

"Okay, Max," Nudge and Gazzy said simultaneously.

"Thank you," I said. Maybe we _could_ make this work.

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**A/N: Okay, I'm _not_ going to say that I'll only post the next chapter if I get a certain number of reviews. I'm writing this simply because I enjoy writing it and wish to share it with the world. I don't feel the need to punish readers because they didn't review. However, I still enjoy reviews, because it helps to know that my work is appreciated. So, please review. Thanks much.**


	8. Angel?

**A/N: We're up to seventeen reviews! And yet another thank you to Flyingtothestars and FireHawk43, who have been R&Ring each of my new chapters. :) Here's chapter eight!**

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Chapter 8: Angel?**

Max's POV

Another week had passed, and Angel was still M.I.A. Gazzy and Nudge had tried to curb their bickering, only half succeeding. Things did seem to be getting better, and there was less gloominess around the house. It still wasn't quite right, but at least we were dealing.

I walked out of the kitchen, where I'd been getting something to drink, and headed toward the stairs to go to bed. I never made it to the stairs. As I was heading past the living room, my mom called out, "Max, I think you might want to see this."

My mom was watching the news. What could possibly be on the news that I would want to see? I turned and entered the room.

"What is it?"

She pointed to the television. "Just look."

I did as instructed. The president appeared to be making a speech.

"…and I can't say if it's permanent, but the problem does seem to be fixed for now. And now, I'd like to introduce the special little girl that made it possible!"

The president turned to his left and waved his hand in the universal 'come on out' gesture, a huge smile on his face. And then, out from the wings of the stage (ha, how ironic) walked…Angel.

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3rd Person/Angel's POV

Angel was ecstatic. She was actually on stage with the president of the United States! What could possibly be more exciting than that? And millions of people all over the country were currently watching her. She decided to play it up for them. She turned toward the camera and waved shyly, smiling like the little angel that her name suggested she was.

All she'd had to do was talk to a few fish, and suddenly she was a celebrity. She felt free and exhilarated. Ha! Max thought she was so special…well, Angel could do better!

The president gestured again, and Angel skipped happily up to him, next to the podium. He bent down so he was at her eye level.

"Hello, Angel. How are you today?"

"I'm wonderful, Mr. President, sir," she said sweetly, twisting one of her blond curls around her finger.

"That's excellent, Angel. Would you like to tell us what it's like for you to be here?"

"Of course." She kept up her sugary sweetness. "It's an honor to be here," she said, repeating lines she'd heard people on television use in similar situations. "I can't tell you how invigorating it is to be invited here tonight."

"Well, Angel, you have quite a vocabulary for one so young. What kind of education have you had?"

Angel repressed the urge to giggle. Education? "Not much of one, sir. I guess you could say I'm home schooled."

"That's extraordinary. You're a very special young lady, you know that?"

_If only he knew how special._ "So I've been told."

The president straightened up and turned back to the audience. "As you can see, Angel has some incredible skills."

_Ha! She's only six! What kinds of skills could a six-year-old girl have?_ Angel turned toward in the direction the thoughts were coming from. He was part of the sound crew, in charge of aligning the microphones.

She grinned and thought to him, _Do you really want to know?_

The man's face turned white, and he quickly turned away from her and busied himself adjusting the height of a certain microphone.

Angel smiled to herself and returned her attentions to the president. This was going to be fun.

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Max's POV

"What do you mean, you saw Angel on TV?!" Gazzy exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "How could she possibly be on TV?"

We were all crowded into Ella's room. After seeing Angel's interview on television, I'd immediately called a Flock meeting.

"She was talking to the president," I explained. "Apparently she did some sort of special task for the government. Something about fish. I didn't catch the whole thing, but my guess is that she used her powers to assist in whatever it was."

"That's wrong!" Nudge said. "She _knows _that's wrong. How many times have you told her, Max?"

"A lot," I replied. "But she never really got it. That's why she was still out running people into phone poles when we were back in the mountains. That's why she dyed your hair. I don't think she ever really understood."

"Do you think she has a plan, or do you think she was just acting on instinct?" Fang asked quietly. "Is this some sort of plot to take control of the U.S. president? It wouldn't be the first time she's tried something like that."

The rest of the Flock was staring at Fang, considering they'd never heard him talk so much. But I was actually starting to get used to it, and replied, "I hadn't really thought about it. I was sort of trying to avoid that possibility."

"Avoiding it won't stop it," Fang said.

"I know, I know."

Gazzy looked incredulous. "You're actually thinking about that?" he asked, staring at us. "You actually think Angel might want to do something like that? Just because she left the Flock doesn't mean she's suddenly turned against the world!"

"I understand that Gazzy," I said. "But think about it. Remember when we were in Virginia?" I internally grimaced. I didn't like thinking about Virginia. It brought back bad memories of a certain red-haired _someone_. But I digress. "Remember that field trip to the Capitol? She tried a few tricks on the president's mind at that point, didn't she?"

"We never proved that!" Gazzy yelled. "Why are you so eager to accuse her of things she would never, ever do?"

"Yeah right!" Nudge added her voice to the tumult. "What makes you think she wouldn't do them? She did this, didn't she?" She held up a strand of her now black hair.

"That is _completely_ different, and you know it!"

"Guys, guys, stop!" I tried to make myself heard over their shouting. "No one is accusing Angel of anything. We're just throwing out possibilities. There is absolutely nothing saying that they're right or wrong."

Nudge and Gazzy both sat back down, but continued glaring at each other.

"So, what do you guys think we should do about it?" I asked.

"You're the leader," Iggy said, completely unhelpfully.

"I know _that_, Iggy," I said, rolling my eyes.

"She rolled her eyes at you, Ig," Gazzy informed him.

I ignored him, continuing, "But I can't always make all of the decisions. What are _your_ thoughts on this?"

"Ignore it," Nudge said. "Leave her to deal with her own problems. She's not part of the Flock anymore."

"Leave her?" Gazzy asked, looking appalled. "Ignore her? And yes, she _is_ still part of the Flock. I didn't think we'd ruled her out just yet."

"After what she's done to us," Nudge snapped. "She is definitely _not_ still part of the Flock. Flock members wouldn't do that."

"What about the time Max and Fang had that big argument and the whole Flock split in half?" Gazzy snapped back. "We were all still Flock members then!"

"Not really, Gazzy," I said quietly. I hated thinking about that even more than Virginia. It made my heart hurt, remembering the way Fang and I had shouted at each other; the way we'd been separated for so long. I glanced over at Fang and noticed that he had tensed up. I could tell he was feeling the same way I was.

"We weren't?" Gazzy said, puzzled. "Then what were we?"

"I don't really know," I replied. "Lost, I guess." I decided to change the subject before I started crying. "But I do agree with Nudge in the fact that Angel isn't _currently_ part of the Flock."

"What?!" Gazzy looked outraged. "She's always been part of the Flock, and now we're disowning her for dying Nudge's hair?"

"Uh, no," I said. "One, we're not disowning her. She's welcome back whenever she might choose to rejoin us." Nudge frowned and opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off. "And two, it's not just because she dyed Nudge's hair. She started using her powers inappropriately and she basically told me she wouldn't accept my leadership anymore. I'm afraid it was more _her _disowning _us._ Not the other way around."

I could tell Gazzy was getting angry at me too, so I decided to say something to get back on his good side.

"Now, I've decided that we should go to D.C. and find out exactly what Angel's plan is. Maybe she really did just want to help. Maybe she's ready to come back now."

_Maybe. Or maybe not._ But I didn't say that part out loud. Gazzy needed to believe that there was a big chance of Angel coming back. Heck, _I_ needed to believe that.

"See, you don't need our opinions," Iggy muttered. "Why do you even ask?"

"I do too need your opinions!" I protested. "Just because I make the executive decisions doesn't mean that your opinions don't help. Or that talking it out with you guys doesn't help me sort things out for myself. So quit saying things like that. You're all necessary."

"Even Angel?" Gazzy asked.

I mentally kicked myself. Of course, Gazzy would just _have_ to point that out. Talk about a loaded question! I looked to Fang for support. But, being the _incredibly_ helpful person he is, he just shrugged and gave me the 'you said it, you talk yourself out of it' look. Great.

"I _would_ feel a lot better if she came back to us," I said, artfully avoiding the direct question.

"You didn't say she was necessary." Okay, maybe not so artfully. But then Gazzy turned and walked out of the room, so I was spared the indecision of having to respond to his comment.

"Get your stuff packed up, Gazzy!" I called after him. "We're leaving for D.C. tomorrow morning!"

There was no answer, but I knew he'd heard me. After all, we did have genetically enhanced hearing.

"Now, let's get some rest," I said to the rest of the Flock. "We've got a lot of flying ahead of us."

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**A/N: Review? :)**


	9. To Washington!

**A/N: Nineteen reviews. That's about two per chapter, averaged. That's okay, but not great. =( Okay, I'm going to stop whining about the lack of reviews and get on with the chapter now. Enjoy!**

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Chapter 9: To Washington!**

Max's POV

"You're leaving?" my mom asked. "I take it you're going to Washington?"

"Yeah," I replied. "We need to find out what Angel's up to. I think she's messing with the president again."

"Again? What do you mean 'again'? When has she ever met the president before?"

I sighed. "When we were in Virginia. We went on a field trip to the Capitol, and Angel wandered off. She met the president, and I think she may have done something."

"Why?"

"That's what we need to find out. I don't know if she was just trying to help, or if she's got some sort of plan to take over the president's will."

My mom gave me a strange look. "Max, she's only six. Why would she be trying to take over the country?"

"How should I know?" I rubbed my forehead. "There was a point where she seemed to be campaigning to be leader of the Flock, but I really have no idea what that was about. Maybe it was just some phase she was going through. But whatever is going on, we need to find out."

"I understand. I'll get some food together."

"Thanks, but don't pack too much. It's a hassle to carry a lot when we're flying. Just some snacks would be great."

"All right."

I turned and headed out of the kitchen. I was about to run up the stairs when Fang stepped out of the shadows and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Fang, will you_ please_ stop doing that?"

He grinned at me. "Doing what? Breathing?"

"Ha ha. Haven't I heard that before?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. A while ago."

"Yeah…" I thought about our old E-shaped house in the mountains of Colorado. I kind of missed it there. We hadn't had to worry about anything chasing us, and we'd been happy. And we'd had Angel. I sighed wistfully.

Fang noticed. "Max, everything's going to be fine. I promise."

"I've heard that before too."

"I guess I'm repeating myself today, aren't I?"

"Yup. So, what'd you want?"

He shrugged again. "I'm honestly not really sure. I guess I just felt like scaring you out of your wits."

"Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically. "If that's the case, I think I'll continue what I was doing." I started for the stairs again, but before I even got to the first step, Fang grabbed my arm.

"Max, did you mean what you told Gazzy in the living room? Do you really think that Angel might just have been wanting to help, and she'll be ready to come back now?"

"So you did want something." I turned around to look at him.

He glared at me. "Just answer the question."

"What do you think? You know me well enough to answer that question for yourself, don't you?" I realized that he was still holding onto my arm, and felt my face start to heat up. "You can let go now."

He released my arm. "Sorry. But yeah, I think I do. You don't believe it."

"Unfortunately, you're right. I don't know what Angel's doing, but she's not just some temperamental little kid who feels like rebelling. If she wanted to come back, she'd come back."

"Hm," was Fang's only response.

I headed for the stairs again, and this time I actually made it. I went to Ella's room to get my backpack. I turned around to go back downstairs and came face to face with Fang.

"Fang!" I exclaimed. "Stop it!"

He just smirked and moved aside to let me through. I scowled and stalked past him.

"Slightly grumpy today, are we?" he asked, and I could hear the laughter in his voice.

"And since when are you in such a good mood?" I retorted. "You certainly weren't this morning."

"I decided there's no point to being in a bad mood," he said, grinning.

"And that put you in a good mood?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

I shook my head. "Whatever. I'm going to bed."

"Weren't you on your way downstairs?" he asked.

My face flushed. "Oh, yeah." Why was I so mixed up? It wasn't like me to forget what I was doing.

_**It's because of Fang, Max. You're becoming flustered because he's so close to you.**_

Imagine that. The Voice. And with utterly useless information too. Figures. But then, I was standing rather close to Fang…no, that couldn't be it.

_I have no idea what you're implying,_ I replied irritably. _Now either give me some useful news, or get out of my head._

There was no reply. Typical.

"Voice back?" Fang asked, probably reading my blank expression.

"Yeah."

"Anything interesting?"

"No," I replied, feeling my cheeks get slightly warm. "Just…stuff."

Fang raised an eyebrow. "Alright then. So, are you going downstairs, or are you going to bed?"

"Bed, so get out."

"Okay, okay," he said, backing out of the room, hands held up in front of him. "No need to get grouchy."

"I'll get grouchy if I want to get grouchy," I said, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling, which completely ruined my protest.

He chuckled slightly. "Good night Max."

"Good night Fang."

* * *

"Good bye!" my mom called from the front step of the house. "Come back as soon as it's safe!"

"Okay!" I called back. "Bye!"

I ran across the lawn, whipping my wings open and taking off into the wild blue yonder (ha ha). I looked back to see my mom and Ella waving at us. I waved back briefly, then turned my gaze forward. The rest of the Flock was hovering there, flapping their wings slowly to stay aloft. I flew up to join them, and we all turned and pointed ourselves East, using our wonderful internal compasses to figure out which way that was.

I glanced back at the house, watching it grow smaller as we flew away from it. I wished we could stay there; live with them and enjoy a normal life, for once. But that would probably never be feasible. We belonged to different worlds, and while those worlds could run side-by-side every now and then, they could never merge. I sighed sadly.

"It's okay Max," Fang's voice said from directly above me. I flipped over to look at him. "They'll always be there, even if you can't always be."

How did he always know exactly what I was thinking? "I know." I smiled at him, but it was a sad smile. "Win some, lose some."

"Now who's repeating lines?"

"Hey, I'm repeating _your_ lines. That doesn't count."

"No, that's plagiarism." He swooped closer and tapped me on the nose.

My eyes widened. Fang was acting so…un-Fang-ish lately. How odd…I managed to regain my voice and said, "It's only plagiarism if I don't give you credit."

His eyes sparkled. "Fine, you win. It's not plagiarism." He flapped his wings a couple times and rose up to regain his earlier altitude about ten feet above me.

I didn't have time to ponder his recent behavior, because Nudge fell back to fly next to me. I knew what she was going to say even before she said anything.

"Max, I'm hungry."

Well, at least some things never change.

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**A/N: As usual, review! =) Though only a couple people seem to be listening...  
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	10. DC Arrival

**A/N: Okay, I recently realized that I completely forgot about Total. O.o Very sorry, Total. Anyway, now I need to decide where he is. Hm…uh…er…well…aha! I have it! He's vacationing in Paris with Akila! Hm…maybe not, but I'm just going to say he decided to stay with Akila, wherever she is. Just in case anyone is wondering what happened to him. **

**Also, a big thank you the people that reviewed. Twenty-three reviews! Slowly but surely going up…**

**Now, on with chapter ten!**

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**Chapter 10  
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3rd Person/Angel's POV

Angel was content. Very content. She was lounging on the biggest bed she'd ever seen in her life with a huge glass of lemonade, cuddling with Celeste. She had her own personal suite in a hotel near the White House. She couldn't believe it. She pinched herself, just to be sure.

It hurt, and she didn't wake up. She squealed happily and set her lemonade aside to jump on the bed in joy. And the best part was: nobody was telling her what to do! The president had said that she could do whatever she wanted, and he hadn't mentioned any exceptions. It was all so exciting!

Angel smiled to herself. _If only Max could see me now…_

* * *

Fang's POV

I shifted my primary feathers slightly and swooped a bit closer to Max. I was still about ten feet above her, and it was the perfect position to watch her from. And yes, I can hear you people screaming "Stalker!", but I'm not. Max is just so graceful when she flies, and it's the only time when she actually looks relaxed and happy. I could completely relate.

She turned her head and noticed me looking at her. I smiled at her and surprise filled her brown eyes, but she smiled back. I stopped flapping for a moment and dropped down to her altitude.

"Hey."

"Hey," she replied. "What's up?"

I flipped over and stared upward. "Hm…looks like…the sky. A few clouds. Space, past that."

She grinned and punched me on the shoulder. "Ha ha. Seriously, though, what did you want?"

"Who says I wanted anything?"

"Well, you dropped down and said, 'hey'."

I rolled my eyes. "And that means I wanted something? Maybe I just wanted to say hi."

She stared at me. "Did you?"

"Sure. Is it a crime?"

"No. Just unusual." She looked at the ground for a minute. "We're almost there."

"Yup."

Just then, Gazzy pointed down and shouted, "Look! It's Anne's house!"

I cringed slightly, and not only because Anne had turned out to be a Whitecoat. Sam…what a wiener. What had Max seen in him? I noticed the same reaction from Max, and I knew she was thinking along the same lines I was.

_Well,_ I thought realistically. _She's probably not thinking about Sam._ I felt a flash of guilt as I thought about Virginia. I'd been stupid, that's for sure. I'd thought that kissing Max would fix that issue, but apparently not. What did I have to do to make her stop running?

I was dragged out of my thoughts by Max's voice.

"That's nice, Gazzy," Max said tightly.

"Can we stop by and say hi?" Gazzy asked.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Gazzy," I said, saving Max from having to say anything, since I could tell she wasn't particularly happy with this conversation. "Remember how things ended last time?"

Gazzy's face fell. "Oh, yeah. But I wanted to pet the sheep again."

"Maybe some other time," I said. "Or maybe we can find a petting zoo in D.C."

He still looked a little put out, but he nodded and didn't press the issue.

* * *

A little while later, Washington D.C. came into sight beneath us. We circled lower, looking for somewhere we could land without attracting any attention. Nudge pointed out an unused alley and we headed down for it. We landed, tucked in our wings, and joined the flow of people moving around the city.

Washington wasn't as crowded as New York, which I think we were all glad of, but it was still way more crowded than what we were used to.

Over the tops of the buildings I spotted a tall, thin, pointy thing sticking up into the sky. I tapped Max on the shoulder.

"It looks familiar, but I can't put my finger on it," I said, pointing it out.

"Oh, that's the Washington Monument," she replied. "I read about it in one of Ella's school books."

I raised my eyebrow. "Why were you reading Ella's school books?"

She shrugged. "I figured it might be a good idea to have some sort of knowledge of these things. We didn't exactly get a decent education. Anyway, I think we saw that last time we were here. Briefly, at least."

I nodded. Now that she mentioned it, I did remember seeing it when we'd been on that fieldtrip. "Max?"

"Yeah?"

"How are we going to get into the White House?"

She frowned. "Well, I hadn't really thought about it. I mean, we've been in there before, but that was with a school group. I don't think they'd let us in on our own."

"And even if we did get in, we'd still have to somehow figure out a way to talk to the president," I added.

She nodded in agreement. "I guess we just wander over and see if fate steps in."

I smiled wryly. "Gosh, Max, how did you ever manage to come up with such an _ingenious_ plan?"

She punched me in the shoulder. "Hey, it's worked in the past."

"Hm…Maybe…"

Just then, I heard a voice I had never, _ever_ expected to hear again.

"Nick!"

* * *

**A/N: Now, I know you smart people most likely know exactly who that is, especially considering where they are, so I'm not going to bother turning it into a contest. **

**Review! =P**


	11. An Unexpected Reunion

**A/N: Congratulations to Flyingtothestars! You guessed exactly what was going to happen! (applauds) Now I'll get to telling you **_**how**_** it's going to happen…**

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**Chapter 11: An Unexpected Reunion**

Fang's POV

I whirled around. Next to me, Max turned around also, somewhat slower.

"Lissa?"

And it was Lissa. Bright red hair flashing, she bounced over to us.

"Oh, my God! It _is_ you! I can't believe it!"

_Neither can I,_ I thought dryly. I suddenly realized that I found her voice incredibly annoying. Why had I never noticed that before?

"Uh…yeah, it's me," I said warily.

I could feel the tension radiating off Max in waves. I felt horrible about putting her through all this. But then, it wasn't really my fault that Lissa had showed up.

"Wow! This is so exciting! What are you doing here?"

Wow! She was so irritatingly chipper! Ugh…I felt like kicking myself. What had I been _thinking,_ hanging out with her? She was definitely not my kind of girl. No, that would be Max…_Bad Fang! Now is a bad time to start daydreaming about Max!_ I snapped my attention back to the conversation.

"Oh…well, not much really," I hedged. "Just…visiting."

"Oh." Her smile slipped a little, probably because of my lack of interest in the conversation.

"Fang," Max cut in, her voice tight. "We should get going."

"Yeah, I know," I agreed, trying not to sound too enthusiastic about getting away from Lissa.

Lissa looked puzzled. "Fang? But your name's Nick."

Crap. I'd forgotten about that. Apparently Max had too. Luckily, she was good at thinking on her feet.

"Nick name," she said. Hm…interesting pun there.

"Neat. Why Fang?" Lissa asked, looking intrigued.

"Um…" I racked my brain, trying to think of something. _Come on…there's got to be something reasonably believable…_There wasn't, so I decided to go with the truth. Shocking, I know. "Actually, it's my real name."

Max and Lissa both looked startled.

"Er, Fang, what are you doing?" Max asked, looking at me like I'd lost my marbles. Maybe I had. Would you be able to tell if you didn't have them?

I turned to Max. "Currently? Completely failing at coming up with a decent reply to Lissa's question. The truth is always more believable than lies, right?"

Lissa finally got her voice back. "Your _real_ name is Fang? Why would you lie about your name?"

"Many reasons," I replied. "Do you remember hearing any rumors about us after we suddenly left Virginia?"

Lissa nodded. "Yeah. A whole bunch of people were saying you guys like, grew wings and flew away. But since that's like, _totally_ impossible…" She trailed off as she looked at my face. "You're saying it's…it's…_true_?" She whispered the last word.

I shrugged. "Well, technically we didn't 'grow wings and fly away'," I said. "We already had them, but other than that it's true."

Lissa had turned white, and Max was staring at me like I'd sprouted a second head.

"Fang," she hissed. "Are you out of your freaking mind? Why would you tell _her_?"

Honestly, I was still trying to figure that out myself. Why _had_ I told Lissa? "I'm not sure," I replied. "It seemed like a good idea?"

Apparently Max wasn't satisfied with my answer. "We don't tell _anyone_, Fang. _Ever_. That's sort of our motto, and it's worked so far."

Just by looking at her, I could tell Max was taking this all the wrong way. She thought I'd told Lissa because of what had happened in Virginia. How could I set her straight?

"I know," I said. "But maybe she can help us. You know, get into the White House?"

Lissa looked up. "You need to get into the White House?"

I turned back to face her. "Yeah."

"I'm on a field trip to the White House," she said. "It's a yearly thing. Sort of a tradition. I could probably get you guys in. But only if you answer a question first."

Oh, great. Hoping it wasn't anything really bad, I said, "Okay, but whether or not you get an answer will depend on the question."

She nodded. "I understand." She took a deep breath, like she was about to go underwater or something. "Are you and Max _actually_ brother and sister?"

I nearly laughed. "No. Not related in any way."

Lissa's face fell. "Oh. Okay. Just wondering."

I was actually kind of glad she'd brought it up. I didn't like the fact that she thought Max and I were siblings. It seemed weird, considering the way I felt about Max. Internally, I sighed. Back to that dilemma. What to do about Max…

Lissa's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "Okay, let's go meet up with my class. I'll try to figure out a way to sneak you guys in."

"Thanks," I said, not completely paying attention. "Very kind of you."

What to do about Max…

* * *

Max's POV

Ugh. This was _so_ annoying. First, Ms. Red-Haired Wonder shows up. Then, Fang tells her our deepest, darkest secret that we never tell _anybody_. And now, to top it all off, we're following her to the White House so that she can sneak us in with her class. For some unknown reason, we're _trusting_ her. Could my day get any worse? Wait, don't answer that. Whenever I say something like that, things _always_ get worse.

"Okay, we're here." Lissa gestured to a large group of school buses. "I'll just go talk to my teacher, and I'll be right back." She walked over to a group of kids and teachers milling about near one of the buses.

I decided to take her absence as a chance to talk to Fang. I motioned to him, then headed around the backside of a bus so we could talk privately.

"Let me guess," Fang said, before I even got a chance to open my mouth. "It's about Lissa, and why we're trusting her."

I nodded. "What are you thinking?"

He sighed and shook his head. "I don't know why I told her in the first place; I guess it seemed easier than trying to come up with some sort of lie about my name, not to mention the fact that she thought we were siblings."

I stared at him. "Why did you care about that?"

"It just seemed…weird, you know?" He smiled slightly. "Anyway, I _did_ tell her, and now I think we can use that to our advantage. We needed a way into the White House. Well, now we've got it."

I thought about his words for a minute. "I guess I can see that. And it did turn out to our advantage. So…maybe it's not so bad. As long as she doesn't tell anyone."

"_That_ we'll have to wait and see about," Fang said. "I don't know if she's the sort of person that would tell all her friends or not."

"Or worse," I added. "The authorities. Depends how scared she is."

Fang shrugged.

Then Nudge came around the corner of the bus. "Lissa's back." Fang looked at me, his eyes saying 'Just trust me', then he followed Nudge back out to the parking lot.

I sighed, then followed them.

Lissa was standing there, twisting a lock of red hair around her finger. "My teacher says you guys can come in with us. I told her you were relatives from out of state that really wanted to see the White House. She seemed okay with it."

"Okay. Thanks Lissa," Fang said.

She blushed. "It's nothing. Come on, they're leaving."

She headed to the group of people, and we dutifully followed her.

Hopefully we weren't making the biggest mistake of our lives. I guess time would tell.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if I'm focusing too much on Fang and Max. I'll try to get the rest of the flock into the next chapter a little more. **

**Also, I realized I've been capitalizing 'flock'. It doesn't really matter, I guess, but sorry for the mistake.**


	12. The White House, Part 1

**A/N: Okay, for those of you who don't know, St. Fang of Boredom (who has some awesome stories, BTW) has a link on her profile. It's a petition against Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart playing Max and Fang. Yes, that _is_ the current rumor, and it MUST BE STOPPED!!! So, if you value the decency of the MR movie, go sign!**

**Now...chapter twelve!  
**

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**Chapter 12: The White House, Part 1  
**

Max's POV

The White House was exactly as I remembered it. Nothing had changed in the last year. So, I was able to zone out and try to come up with a plan to see the president. Somehow I didn't think just asking would do the trick…

"Wow, Max, look at that!" Nudge pointed to a painting on the wall. "Isn't that neat? I mean, look at the colors. They look like ice cream. Man, I like ice cream. Don't you Max? It's just so tasty. Sort of like pizza. Hey, Max, can we get pizza?""

Nudge seemed to have recovered her spirit somewhat. I was quite relieved. I'd been getting tired of the new, angry Nudge. However, it meant that the Nudge Channel was back online.

"Not right now, Nudge," I told her. "We're on a tour of the White House. How were you planning to get pizza?"

"Oh." She thought about that for a second. "I guess that doesn't really make sense, does it? Can we get pizza later?"

"Maybe," I replied. "We'll see what happens."

"Okay." She wandered over to look at some other paintings.

Now, back to coming up with a plan…

* * *

Iggy's POV

Iggy wandered around the room they were in, trying to get a good grasp of its shape and where the doors were. He had been running his fingers over things to get an idea of what they were, but apparently there was some sort of "no touching" rule, and one of the teachers had reprimanded him.

He remembered the last time he'd been here; he'd had someone to describe things to him then. Tess. She'd been really nice. He wished they hadn't had to leave Virginia so suddenly. He would've liked to say good-bye to her.

And then…the unexpected happened.

"Jeff? Is that you?"

Iggy whirled around. Could it be…? No, that would be far too coincidental. But it was. He recognized the voice immediately. It was her.

"Wow, it is you." She was closer now. "How have you been?"

Iggy was speechless for a minute, but he recovered his voice quickly. "Fine. You?"

She laughed. She had such a nice laugh. "Good. It's nice to see you again though."

"You too."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, curiosity evident in her voice. "Did you move back to Virginia?"

Iggy shook his head. "We're on vacation."

"We? Oh, that's right, your family…Nick and those guys, right?"

"Yup."

"Are they here too?"

He nodded. "They're around here somewhere." He gestured to the rest of the room.

There was silence for a moment, then she said, "Oh, sorry. I was nodding."

Iggy shrugged. "That's okay. Happens all the time. I don't mind."

She laughed again. "You're so nonchalant about being blind. Is it bad?"

"Sometimes," he admitted. "Like when I end up alone somewhere I've never been before. Crowds are bad too. Too much noise for me to get my bearings."

"That does sound bad," she agreed. "I admire you for that, though. It's very neat, what you can do."

Iggy felt himself blushing. "Thanks. You're great too." Oops. He hadn't meant to say that. It sounded kind of corny. But apparently Tess didn't mind.

"Thanks, Jeff."

"Call me Iggy."

"Oh…okay," she said, sounding slightly startled. "Nick name?"

"Something like that…"

* * *

Max's POV

I looked around, making sure I could still see all of the flock. Nudge was still looking at the paintings, Gazzy was with Fang, looking at something across the room, and Iggy was standing over in the corner, talking to a tall girl with dirty blond hair.

I walked over to Iggy. "Hey."

He looked toward me. "Hi Max."

"Who's this?" I asked, looking at the girl.

"Oh. This is Tess. I met her in Virginia, and we just met back up."

I looked her over. She didn't look dangerous. She actually looked really nice. Her smile was genuine, so far as I could tell. I was surprised by how tall she was, though; at least two inches taller than me, which was very unusual.

"Hi Tess," I said, deciding to be polite.

"Hi," she replied. "You're Iggy's sister, right?"

Iggy? Why did she know his real name? I wished I could ask him with a look, but obviously that wouldn't work.

"Uh, yeah," I said. "Ig, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure."

I guided him far enough away that Tess wouldn't be able to hear us. "Why does she know your name?"

"I told her."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I felt like it."

"Did you tell her anything else?" I asked, starting to get annoyed. Why did people keep blurting out our secrets?

He shook his head. "And she assumed it was a nick name, so no harm done. I just don't really like the name Jeff, and I wanted her to call me Iggy."

I sighed. "Alright. I suppose that's okay. Go have fun, then." I was starting to get the feeling that Iggy may like this Tess girl more than was all together appropriate for our situation. I was desperately hoping he didn't get too attached.

"Okay. Bye Max." He sauntered back over to her, picking up their previous conversation. I shook my head and went to find Fang. We needed a plan.

* * *

**A/N: I know it didn't actually say Tess's hair color in the book, but I always pictured her dirty blond, so that's what I put. I hope no one minds.**

**And to Flyingtothestars: I'm sorry about the lack of humor. I couldn't get into a humorous mood. I hope you still enjoyed the chapter. **

**Wingedjay13: Thanks for the kind words of encouragement. I feel the same way, I just know some people don't, so I thought I'd put that in there.**

**Review! =)**


	13. The White House, Part 2

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. Here's chapter thirteen!**

**

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Chapter 13: The White House, Part 2**

Fang's POV

I was standing next to Gazzy, listening to him talk about how a bunch of stuff in this room could be turned into a bomb, when Max came over and tapped my shoulder. I turned around.

"Yeah?"

"We need a plan," she said. "How the heck are we supposed to talk to the president?"

I thought about that for a minute. That was a bit of a problem. Maybe we could tell the tour guide we wanted an autograph…no, that was stupid. Or…I said my thoughts out loud, for Max's benefit.

"Maybe we could just tell the truth," I suggested.

She gaped at me. "What is it with you and spilling our secrets lately? First Lissa, now the government? Are you out of your mind?"

I shook my head. I should have known she would jump to that conclusion. "No Max, not that truth. Just tell them we know the little girl who helped the president, and would like to talk to him about it."

Comprehension flashed across her face. "Oh…I get it. That might just work."

I grinned smugly. "I know, I'm awesome."

She punched me in the arm, not particularly gently either. "Jerk." She looked around the room. "Who do we talk to?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you could ask a tour guide?"

"But what if they don't believe us?" she asked. "For all they know, it's a ruse to get to the president and assassinate him."

"Max, we're just kids," I said. "Do we look like we would want to assassinate the president?"

She looked at me, a grin forming on her face. "Okay, Fang, last time I checked, we were not 'just kids'."

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously not, but these people don't know that, do they? Just try it and see what happens. It's not like they're going to arrest us for it."

"Alright," she said. "We'll try it. You're coming too."

She grabbed my hand and started dragging me across the room. I didn't resist, enjoying the feeling of her hand in mine.

All too soon, in my opinion anyway, we reached the tour guide and she dropped my hand.

"Excuse me, sir," Max said. Wow, who knew she could actually be polite?

The tour guide turned around. "Yes, miss? What can I do for you?"

"Well," she began. "We know the little girl that helped the president, and we were wondering if we could talk to him about it."

The tour guide looked skeptical. I didn't blame him. "How do you know her, exactly?"

Max smiled sweetly, and even though it wasn't aimed at me, I swear I nearly melted. She really should smile like that more often…

"She's our sister," Max said.

The tour guide still looked a little uncertain. "His too?" he asked, pointing to me. I could tell he was comparing me to Angel, and I had to admit, there wasn't much in common.

Max didn't seem at all put out. "Different fathers," she explained. Man, she really had this whole lying thing down to a science.

He frowned. "Don't you have a better way of talking to her? Why do you need to resort to these methods?"

"She ran away from home," Max said, taking on the proper expression of annoyance and sadness. "She threw her phone away. Believe me, we've tried other methods."

He looked us over, then said, "Let me talk to the president. Wait here." He left the room.

"That went relatively well," I said. "He didn't call security or anything."

"Yet," Max added, staring after him. "Maybe that's what he just went to do."

I rolled my eyes. "You and your paranoia. So what if he did? A couple of security guards won't stop us."

She grinned. "I guess not."

I looked around, searching for Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge. Gazzy was over where I'd left him, Nudge was over by a tour guide, probably talking their ear off. Iggy was…?

"Max," I said slowly, still looking toward Iggy. "Who's Iggy talking to? She looks familiar."

Max followed my gaze. "Yeah, that's because you've met her. That's Tess. She was in yours and Iggy's class back in Virginia."

"Ah." Now that Max had said that I recognized her. My mind went back to the day of the field trip.

"_Oh," I heard Iggy say over the crowd of people. "Thanks."_

_Then another voice, a girl's voice said, "No prob. You know, I was so relieved when they put you in our class. Now I won't stick out so much."_

_Huh? What was she talking about? Was she blind too? I started making my way back over to Iggy. Then I heard her continue._

"_You know, tall for my age, like you. People always say, Oh, be glad about it­–you can be a basketball player, or a model or something. But when you're fourteen, a girl, and five ten, the whole thing pretty much sucks. But now I'm not alone. We match."_

_I heard Iggy laugh, then I came up next to him and lightly brushed his jacket, helping him get his bearings._

"_Tess?" one of the teachers called._

"_Got to go–room leader and all," the girl–Tess–said. "I'll find you later, when we're walking around, okay?"_

"_Okay," Iggy replied. He looked dazed, like he wasn't sure what had just happened._

_I grinned. "You're slayin' 'em, big guy."_

"Hm…" I said.

Max seemed to hear the unspoken words in my 'hm…'. "Yeah," she agreed. "I'm afraid this may bring up complications. He seems really happy with her."

I didn't reply. Iggy did look happy, talking with Tess. Happier than he'd been in a long time. Max was right; it could bring up complications.

About ten minutes later, the tour guide came back. "The president has agreed to talk to you, if you'll follow me."

Max nodded. "I'll just let our siblings know where we're going."

He nodded. It took Max about a minute to let the others know, then she was back. "Okay, let's go."

The tour guide nodded again, then led us out of the room and down a hallway to an elevator. I looked at it. None of us liked elevators, but we did put up with them when necessary.

After a bit of waiting for it to get to our floor, there was a 'Ding!' and the doors slid open. I took a deep breath, then walked inside. Max followed quickly, looking tense. The doors closed, and Max started wringing her hands anxiously, so, in a moment of thoughtlessness, I reached out and took her hand in mine. She looked up at me, startled, but before she could say anything, there was another 'Ding!', and the doors opened. I smiled at her, then let go of her hand and exited the elevator.

The tour guide led us down another hallway, then stopped outside a large door. "Right in here, please."

I looked at Max. She smiled weakly, and opened the door.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, I've never actually been to the White House, so if any of you who are reading this have, please excuse anything that doesn't completely make sense. I don't actually know if they have elevators, but I figured that was pretty safe. And I'm trying not to go into too much detail on any of the rooms or anything, just to be safe. Anyway, despite any possible mistakes on that note, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Review! =)**


	14. A Talk With The President

**A/N: Yay! 40+ reviews! You guys rock! Now, on with chapter fourteen...**

**

* * *

Chapter 14: A Talk With The President**

Max's POV

I opened the door and walked into the president's office. It was quite large, and there were some couches and chairs scattered around the room, so it didn't look uncomfortable. The huge desk that was so talked about sat toward the back of the room, and the president sat behind it, his hands steepled together. When we walked in, he immediately gave us an up-and-down, taking in our slightly grubby appearance.

"So," he began. "I heard you were here to talk about little miss Angel. She's your sister?"

I nodded.

"I see." He was silent for a moment. "She's a wonderful little girl, you know. Absolutely adorable, and very sweet. She was extraordinarily kind to help us out like she did."

I exchanged a glance with Fang. _Ha! Sweet my arse!_

_**Maybe she is, Maximum. Perhaps she really did do it just to help.**_

_Gee, Voice, long time no see. And even if she did do it just to help, she's still not sweet. She's an absolute devil._

The Voice didn't reply, as usual. Fang raised his eyebrow at me, silently asking what the Voice had said. I just shook my head slightly, letting him know it was nothing of importance.

The president cleared his throat.

Fang looked at me, a glint in his eyes, then said, "Sorry, sir. She does that from time to time. The doctors are trying to find a cure." He kept a perfectly straight face, too. I don't know how.

I glared at him. Figures he'd make it sound like I had some sort of disorder. Yeah, SOD: Spacing Out Disorder. I think not. Fang just smirked back at me. Jerk.

Unfortunately, the president bought Fang's story. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Great, now I had to play the part. "Thanks, sir. It's not particularly disabling though. I've learned to live with it."

The president just smiled and nodded. "So, back to what you're here for…"

"Yes, um, how is Angel?"

"Oh, she's fine," he replied. "She has her own suite, and seems quite comfortable."

_Her own suite, huh? She's really living it up here, the little devil._ "That's very kind of you. What exactly did she do to deserve that? I mean, I heard she helped you, but what did she do?"

The president frowned. "I'm not at liberty to discuss that particular matter. I'm sorry."

Grr…of course not. I needed a new tactic… "But sir, she _is_ our sister."

He looked slightly troubled by this. "Yes, well, I still shouldn't be talking about it. Maybe I can arrange for you to meet with her?"

Well, it was something. Maybe Angel would listen to me. "That'd be wonderful. How soon do you think we could talk to her?"

He thought for a minute. "Two hours. I'll send someone to her hotel to bring her back."

"Thank you, sir," I said. "This is really kind of you."

He nodded. "Of course. I'll see you back here in two hours, then."

It was a dismissal. "Yes, sir. Thank you." Then I turned around and headed for the door, Fang right behind me.

Angel's POV

Angel was in her absolutely ginormous walk-in closet, admiring all of her new clothes, when there was a knock on her door. She skipped over to the door and probed the mind of the person standing outside. It was one of the president's guards. She unlocked the door.

"Yes?"

He squatted down so that he was at her eye level. "The president sent me to get you. He says there's someone here to see you."

Angel frowned. "Who?"

"They say they're your brother and sister."

Her frown deepened. Max and Fang? What were _they_ doing here? Couldn't they just leave her alone?

The guard examined her face. "Are they not your brother and sister?"

"No, they are," she replied. "I'm just not sure why they're here."

"To talk with you," he said. "Do you not want to talk to them?"

_No._ But instead she said, "I will, I guess. Where are they?"

"At the White House. They just spoke with the president. They're going to meet with you in a couple hours."

"Okay," Angel replied. "Just let me change."

The guard nodded and stood up. She closed the door and ran back to the closet to change into different clothes.

Why had they followed her? Was it just Max and Fang, or was the whole flock here? She didn't want them here! She had it all under control. Everything was perfect. She didn't want them to ruin it.

_**Don't worry, Angel. They won't ruin anything. You can get rid of them easily.**_

Angel nodded, reassured. _You're right. I can…_

Max's POV

Fang and I got back to the room where the school field trip was without incident. I immediately looked around to find the rest of the flock. Nudge and Gazzy were across the room, discussing something. Odd…I thought they were mad at each other. Huh. Iggy was still talking to Tess. She said something and he laughed. I sighed. That could only end badly…

Fang tapped my shoulder, and I turned to him. "What?"

"Are we going to bring the rest of the flock with us when we go to see Angel?"

I bit my lip, thinking. "I'm sure Gazzy will want to see his sister. Nudge would probably rather not, though. And I figure Iggy will want as much time as possible with Tess. If we do bring Gazzy, and Angel turns out to be a traitor, he'd be distraught. Then again, maybe he could help get her back. She has to have a soft spot for her own brother, right?"

Fang just looked at me for a minute, then said, "Is it hard, being you?"

"Yes, it _is_, actually," I said, irritated. "For the record. But are you saying I don't have a point? Gazzy could be helpful, but he's only eight, and he could also get pretty badly heartbroken if his sister _has_ turned against him."

Fang was silent for a few seconds. He seemed to be mulling over the same things in his head. "I don't know," he said finally. "Why don't we just ask Gazzy if he wants to go or not?"

"Because he'll say yes," I replied. "He wouldn't think it all the way through. He'd just know he wants to see Angel."

"Then why not let him?"

"Because it might be bad for his emotional state of being."

Fang was silent again. He was silent a lot. But that was who he was, and he wouldn't be the Fang I know and love if he didn't do that. And no, I didn't mean anything when I said 'know and _love_'. It's just a figure of speech. Doesn't mean _anything_. God, I sound like I'm in denial. Which I'm most certainly _not_. At all. Okay, this sounds bad. Forget I said anything in the first place.

"We don't take him," Fang said.

"Why?"

"If Angel really does want to come back, then we don't need Gazzy's help, and he'll see her soon anyway. If she really doesn't, then Gazzy won't make a difference, and he won't have to live through having his sister turn on him."

Fang and his impeccable logic. But I had to poke holes in it somewhere, because that's just the way I am. "What if she can't decide?"

Fang shrugged. "Then she needs more time, and we should leave her to figure it out."

"Okay," I said, giving in. "Sounds good. Just us, we leave the flock here."

* * *

**A/N: Anyone pick up on the lines from MAX? It actually wasn't intentional, but they just seemed to fit.**

**So, who was surprised when Angel got a Voice? =P**

**I don't really think I need to tell you to review. If you're going to review, you will. And if you're not, me saying it won't change that.  
**


	15. Angel's Decision

**Chapter 15: Angel's Decision**

Angel's POV

Angel stood by the president's side, waiting to talk with Max and Fang. She was still trying to figure out how to make them leave her alone.

_**How did you do it last time?**_

Angel frowned._ What do you mean? When I left? But that didn't work. They still followed me._

_**They won't this time. They'll understand that this is your final decision.**_

Angel thought about that. It would probably work, but was this really her final decision?

_**Of course it is. Don't be silly. This is what you've always dreamed of.**_

Of course. This _was_ what she'd always dreamed of, right? Independence. Freedom from Max. Her own suite. Influence over the country's leader…wait, where'd that last one come from? Angel shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought, but it didn't go away.

_**But wouldn't that be nice? You'd be able to whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted. You wouldn't have to listen to anyone, especially not Max. Doesn't that sound perfect?**_

Angel smiled slightly, thinking of the possibilities of that scenario. It _would_ be nice…

_**Exactly. All you have to do is get rid of Max and Fang. They'll interfere.**_

_Wait, get rid of? As in…kill?_ Angel didn't want to kill them. No matter how much she was annoyed with them for getting in the way, she didn't want them _dead_.

_**No, not dead. Just…out of the way.**_

_Oh, okay._ Her smile came back. _Just get rid of them. Then I can do whatever I want._

The door opened and a tour guide stepped in. "Right in here, please."

Max and Fang walked in. Max was staring at Angel with a mixture of emotions. Her thoughts reflected her confusion. _There she is. It's good to see her healthy. Is she even at all ashamed of what she did?_

Angel thought about that for a minute. _No,_ she decided. _I'm not. Not at all._

_After all…__**it was necessary.**_

* * *

Max's POV

There she was. My little girl, my little Angel. It was good to see her alive and well, but was she even at all ashamed of what she did? I hoped so, because I didn't think my heart could handle it if she was willing to do the same thing again. I still hadn't completely gotten over last time. There was still a nagging voice of doubt at the back of my mind, even though Fang had insisted that none of what she'd said was true. It was hard to ignore something like that.

Fang was staring at Angel, completely impassive. Or at least, anyone who didn't know him would say he was impassive. I could see the tension in him, the anger, and the sadness. The tension and the sadness I could relate to, but I couldn't seem to feel any anger at all toward Angel. That was probably a bit unreasonable, seeing what she'd done to me, but being angry at her…that was pretty much impossible, for some reason.

_**The same reason it's always been, Maximum. She's your little girl. It's the same reason mothers can never stay angry at their children for very long.**_

_So I'm her mother now?_

_**You always have been.**_

Huh. I guess that could be true, but Angel obviously felt differently. What six-year-old would look at their mother with the look of hatred and annoyance Angel was giving me? It was like she wasn't even Angel anymore.

_Of course I am, Max. Who else would I be?_

My head whipped up to stare at Angel. Apparently she was resorting to mind powers. _I thought we were here to talk?_

_You are. I have nothing to talk about._

The president was looking from us to Angel in confusion, probably wondering why no one was saying anything. Well, time to break the silence.

"Hello, sir," I said. "Long time no see."

"Um…yes," the president said, still looking a little confused. "You wanted to talk to your sister?"

"That's why we came, isn't it?" My trademark lack of respect for authority figures seemed to be making a comeback, due to the tension of the current situation.

"I suppose so." He seemed to be trying to gain his bearings, and I don't think my sarcasm was helping. "Well…Angel? What do you have to say to your sister?"

Angel glared at me. "Nothing."

The president looked shocked. "Nothing?"

Angel continued to glare. "That's right. She's not supposed to be here."

"I'm not supposed to be here?" I asked, trying to figure that out. "Why not?"

"You'll ruin everything," Angel stated coldly. "You'll try to take me back. I'm _not_ going back."

Why did she have to do this? My heart was breaking all over again.

"Ange, please," I said, hearing my voice crack. "Don't do this."

"Do what?" she asked. "Leave? I already left, Max. The only thing I'm doing now is keeping my freedom. Everything I said before was _true_. Do I need to say it again?"

I admit it; I broke. As hard as I tried to keep the tears in, they wouldn't stay. The traitorous little drops of water flowed down my cheeks, refusing to be halted. Why was Angel doing this to me?

"Because you deserve it," she said, not even bothering to speak mind-to-mind. "You're a control freak, Max. Just leave me alone!"

The president looked absolutely bewildered. I'm guessing this isn't what he expected. He probably expected us to talk a little, Angel to come running back, and we'd all be one big happy family again. Ha. Instead, Angel was insulting her "older sister", and said "older sister" was breaking down in tears. Not exactly a nice little family reunion. And Angel wasn't done.

"Okay, Max," she continued harshly. "You may be little miss Save The World with everyone else, and they may love you and follow you for it, but I won't! They're idiots! I'm my own person, and I _won't _follow you around like some…some _lemming_."

Great, now she was insulting the rest of the flock too. The tears flowed harder.

Fang looked absolutely murderous now. His dark eyes were fixed on Angel, sparking dangerously. The last time I saw him like this, he was looking at Jeb and the other Whitecoats, at the School. Did he really see Angel that badly now?

"Angel, get your act together," he said quietly, menacingly. "Max has done _nothing_ wrong. I don't know where you're getting all this from, or why you're even doing it, but you're being an unfair little brat. Max doesn't deserve any of this. She never has, and she _never_ will. And if you're going to be like this, we don't _want_ you back."

Angel almost looked pleased. WTH? "Fine," she said. "I don't want to go back. Go ahead and _leave_. See if I care." She turned around so that her back was facing us. "I'm ready to leave now. Can you have someone get them out of here?"

"I don't know about that," the president said uncertainly. "They haven't really done anything…"

Angel turned to him. "Yes, they have. They offended me."

The president's expression took on a dazed look. The little imp was using her mind control on him!

"Of course," he said. He turned to one of his guards. "Call security."

"Yes sir." The guard quickly obeyed.

I looked at Fang, tears still clouding my vision. He looked _angry_.

"What do we do?" I asked him. "She called security on us."

His eyes blazed. "I know."

"So, what do we do about it?"

"Nothing we can do," he replied. "We have to get the others though."

Oh yeah. Couldn't let Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge get left behind. We'd have to alert them somehow.

"This just went swell, didn't it?"

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if this chapter was kind of depressing. It had to be though. And I'd like to thank Flyingtothestars for the idea of having them escorted out by security. It works well. =) **

**Want to hear a funny story? I was writing this, listening to my MP3 player on shuffle. Random songs were coming on, and I wasn't really paying attention to them. Then I got a little stuck, so I actually started listening to the current song. And it was My Immortal by Evanescence! It fit **_**perfectly**_** with what I was writing. Creepy, no? Then a couple songs later, Good Girl Gone Bad by Rihanna came on. Kind of ironic, what with Angel betraying them, though the song lyrics don't actually fit. Just thought I'd share that with you all.**


	16. Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

**A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone! I'm past sixty reviews! Oh, and some virtual cake and ice cream for StephanieZorander, who took the time to review every single chapter as she was reading it. _Malto grazie._ (Thank you very much, for those of you who don't speak Italian) Now, on with chapter...uh...sixteen, and please read the A/N at the end. It's important.**

**

* * *

Chapter 16: Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow**

Fang's POV

What was _wrong_ with Angel? How could say things like that to Max? Max rarely cries, and she almost never says 'please'. She did both of those when she was talking to Angel. Or rather, when she was listening to Angel completely destroy her self-confidence. And now we were being 'escorted' out of the White House by bulky security guards with _guns_, courtesy of Angel.

Max was walking next to me, head down, not saying anything. I knew she was running through everything Angel had said, probably believing every word. When would she learn? I moved closer to her.

"Don't worry," I whispered into her ear. "We'll sort this out…somehow."

She looked up at me. "Really? How? It's looking pretty impossible at the moment." And then I saw the tears start to well up in her eyes again.

"Max, don't," I said, moving behind her to rub her shoulders as we walked. "She's not worth crying over."

"Okay, you two," one of the guards said. "Out you go." I looked up and realized that we'd reached the front doors. The guard opened one of them and we were shooed out.

"Wait!" Max said. "Can you get a message to our siblings for us?"

Ah. Good thinking on her part. The guard looked uncertain for a moment. Then he nodded. "I take it they're in the White House."

Max nodded. "Can you let them know to meet us out here?"

"Sure. What are their names?"

"Jeff, Tiffany-Krystal, and Zephyr."

The guard pulled out a notebook and wrote the names down. "Okay. I'll make sure they know. Are they with the school that's here?"

Max nodded again.

"All right." He paused. "And I'm really sorry about this. But, president's orders."

"We understand," Max said. "Thank you for your kindness, though."

"No problem. I hope this all resolves itself for you." He shut the door.

That's when I decided it was the perfect time to tell Max what I'd seen.

* * *

Max's POV

Ugh. We were sitting outside the White House, waiting for the rest of flock to join us, after having been _kicked out_ by Angel. This day just kept getting better, didn't it?

I dropped my head onto my knees. Why couldn't anything ever go right for us? Did someone up there have it against us or something?

I felt Fang's hand on my shoulder. "Max?"

I looked up. "What?"

He sat down on the curb next to me. "I noticed something when we were talking to Angel. I thought you'd want to know."

"You noticed something?" I asked curiously. "Like what?"

"You know how you kind of…space out when the Voice is talking to you?"

Huh? "Yeah. What about it?"

He scratched his head. "Well, I think Angel did the exact same thing. She got the same not-really-there look in her eyes."

I was flabbergasted. "Angel has a Voice? The Voice? My Voice?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she was just staring off into space, but that didn't seem likely. And even if she does have a Voice, it might not be the same Voice as yours."

"One Voice is weird enough," I said.

_**You should listen to him. He may be onto something.**_

_Really? Do you know anything about another Voice? Or are you Angel's Voice?_

_**I'm not Angel's Voice, but I'm not the only Voice out there.**_

_There are others? _

_**Yes.**_

_Who or what are you?_

No answer. Figures. It was important this time too.

"Max, you just proved me right."

I looked at Fang. He looked slightly pleased.

"I did?"

"Yeah. That was definitely the same look Angel had, and it's not really the same as when you're just staring off into space."

Well, now it was confirmed; Angel had a Voice. Great.

* * *

Iggy's POV

"Yeah, and then she just started laughing." Tess finished her story. "It was _so_ weird."

"Sounds it," he said.

Then there was a loud crackling noise, and a loudspeaker came on.

"Could Jeff, Tiffany-Krystal, and Zephyr please exit the building via the front doors. Your brother and sister are waiting for you. If you need assistance finding or getting to the front doors, please ask a tour guide."

Iggy froze. Those were their fake names. Had something happened when Max and Fang had gone to talk to Angel? Why were they outside, and why hadn't they come to tell him and the others themselves?

Tess must have noticed, because she said, "Hey, isn't that you and your siblings?"

"Yeah…" he replied slowly.

"Are you leaving again, then?" she asked, and Iggy could hear the sadness in her voice. "Like you did last time?"

His heart wrenched. "Yeah. Probably."

"There's no other option?"

"No, not really."

There was silence for a moment, then she said, "Will I ever see you again?"

"I really don't know," he said. "It's always possible, but I don't know about probable."

More silence, then, "Is there any way I can stay in touch with you?"

Iggy nearly laughed. "What, like a cell phone or something?"

"I guess…."

"Nope." He paused, thinking. "I don't suppose you've got a spare?"

She did laugh. "A spare cell phone? Right, like that would ever happen."

"I guess not," he said, somewhat sheepishly. "Where can I buy one?" Maybe Max's credit card could pay for it.

"Are you serious?" she asked incredulously. "You're just going to run out and buy a cell phone?" There was a slight pause before she added, "Actually, they sell cheap ones at the dollar store down the road. You could get one of those."

Iggy nodded. "Okay, I'll do that. Write down your number."

He heard random noises as she rifled through her bag for a pen and paper. After a minute, she pressed a slip of paper into his hand. "Have one of your siblings read it for you. My cell phone's always on, so you can call whenever."

He nodded again. "I'll miss you, Tess."

Then something startling happened; she hugged him. "I'll miss you too, Iggy. Please stay safe."

He wrapped his arms around her. "Well, that's hard sometimes in my line of business, but I'll do my best."

That's when Nudge and Gazzy chose to arrive. He heard Nudge gasp softly. Gazzy coughed, evidently trying to get Iggy's attention.

Iggy released Tess, feeling his cheeks get warm. "Hi guys."

"Hi," Gazzy said. "We have to leave."

"I know," Iggy said. "Any idea why?"

And of course, Nudge started talking. "No, but we were speculating. Gazzy thought something blew up, but I figured that Max and Fang had problems with Angel and got kicked out. Wouldn't that be just like them? I mean, remember that time when–"

Gazzy must have slapped his hand over her mouth, because the talking stopped abruptly.

"Shouldn't we go?" he asked pointedly.

Iggy nodded. "Yeah. Let's get moving." He turned back to Tess. "I'll call you as soon as possible, okay?"

"Promise?" she asked worriedly.

"I promise," he said, smiling. "I'll talk to you soon."

She hugged him again, briefly. "See you, Iggy."

"Yeah. Bye." He paused slightly, then followed Nudge and Gazzy through the crowd.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, here's the important author's note; I'm leaving for camp in two days. I will most likely not get a chance to update before then because I'm having a severe case of writer's block. So I won't be updating for about two weeks, seeing as electronics are not allowed at this camp, therefore, no computers or Internet. Hopefully the two weeks will also give me a chance to come up with an idea for the next couple chapters, and I'll be able to update promptly when I get home. **

**Reviews are still much loved. I'd like to see a full inbox when I get back!  
**


	17. Phones? Mobile? Huh?

**A/N: Okay, here's the new chapter. Finally. Very sorry about the long wait. I blame summer camp! (Though it was worth it, in my opinion) I hope you're all still interested. Also, important A/N at the bottom. Please read it.**

**

* * *

Chapter 17: Phones? Mobile? Huh?  
**

Max's POV

Once we had reunited with Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy, I told them the whole story. Well, most of it. I left out the part about me breaking down. And the details of Angel's insults. Okay, so all I really told them was that Angel had decided to stay. And I did mention the whole 'security guard escorting us out' incident. When I said that, Nudge shot a gloating look at Gazzy, which confused me, but I didn't press the matter.

"Angel picked them over us?" Gazzy asked, tears shining in his eyes. "Why would she do that?"

"I don't know, kiddo," I replied. "But she's made her choice, and we have to live with it."

"Live with it?!" Iggy exclaimed. "One of our flock members _betrayed_ us, and you're telling us to _live with it_?"

"What was she supposed to say? _Don't_ live with it?" That was Fang. Thank the gods for Fang, always helping me in my times of need. I could've kissed him. Oh, uh…forget I said that.

Iggy looked a little less hostile after that remark, but apparently he wanted to get in one last jibe. "Of course, Fang, you _would_ jump to Max's defense. You always have been completely besotted with her. What was that saying about love blinding people to the truth?"

I'm sure I began turning a wonderful shade of scarlet, but Fang just stood there. I did notice his jaw tighten somewhat, though. What did that mean? Was he mad or embarrassed? Or both? It didn't matter. Either way, Iggy was way out of line.

"Okay, look Iggy," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "I don't know why you're suddenly acting like this, but I really need you on my side right now. Angel's already out for my blood, and I really don't need any of you suddenly having the same issues. Can you please get over whatever it is you need to get over and help keep the flock from falling apart?"

Iggy looked down, shame evident in his posture. "I'm really sorry, Max," he said after a moment. "I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I'm just a little stressed at the moment."

"Aren't we all, Ig," I replied, glad that his anger had seemed to be temporary. I couldn't afford to lose Iggy too. It'd probably be the end of my sanity if anyone else betrayed me like Angel had. "Well, if we're all ready, let's get going."

Iggy looked up quickly. "Oh, Max?"

I turned back to him, hoping he hadn't suddenly decided to yell at me again. "Yeah?"

"Can we go buy a cell phone? I was told they have cheap ones at the local dollar store."

I was slightly stunned. "Why the heck do you want a cell phone?"

But before Iggy could reply, Nudge jumped in. "So _that's_ why you said you'd call her. I get it now. You want to be able to talk to her, don't you?"

I was pretty sure I knew who Nudge was referring to, but I thought I'd ask anyway. "Call who?"

"Tess," Iggy said quietly, staring at his shoes. "She gave me her number." He raised his head to look at me…well, point his eyes in my general direction. "I don't want to lose her, Max. I got really lucky today, and if I don't keep in touch with her, I'll most likely never see her again. Can I please do this?"

My first instinct was to say no, just because of the huge hassle it could potentially cause, but then I thought further. Iggy was pretty much alone in the world. I mean, he had us, but there were things that went deeper than family. I looked over at Fang, and that's when I realized just how much Iggy needed this. Don't ask me why, but for some reason, I thought of never seeing Fang again, and I knew exactly how Iggy felt.

_**You know the reason, Maximum. You just have yet to allow yourself to believe it.**_

I didn't reply to that one. I still wasn't sure about any of this, but I did know that I had to give in to Iggy's request. He deserved to have something happy in his life.

"Okay, Ig, we'll go buy a cell phone."

* * *

Fang's POV

So Max had agreed to buy Iggy a cell phone. Interesting. After he had asked her, she'd looked over at me, and then said yes. What did that mean? Was all of my hope not lost after all? Did Max actually return any of my feelings? Most of my brain was telling me that that would be too much to hope for, but somewhere in my subconscious, or maybe it was my heart, something said it could be true. I decided to worry about that later, though, since we seemed to be leaving.

We walked (yes, we walked, it's not _that_ strange) down the street until we found the dollar store. The sign said 'Family Dollar' in large, red bubble letters. The door clanged as we walked in, and the girl at the checkout looked up. She smiled sweetly, and something told me it was aimed at me.

"Can I help you?"

Max seemed to be rather irked by this, but since she had no idea what we were looking for, she had to humor the clerk.

"Yeah, actually, you can," she said, imitating the clerk's sweetness. "We're looking for a cheap cell phone."

The clerk tilted her head. "A cell phone? Here?"

Iggy stepped forward. "I was told you sold them here. Really cheap."

She frowned slightly, then comprehension dawned on her face. "Oh, you mean a Tracfone! Yeah, we sell them. They're over here." She walked around the front of the desk and motion for us to follow her. Then she led us to the end of an aisle and pointed to a display of cheap looking cell phones in green plastic packages. "Right here. They're twenty dollars each, and the minutes are sold at the front desk. Do you need anything else?"

Max smiled so sweetly it was almost creepy. "No, thanks. We're good."

The clerk nodded, looking disappointed, and went back to her checkout. Max growled quietly, and I went over to her.

"Don't let her get on your nerves," I whispered. "She's not worth it."

Max nodded and relaxed slightly. "You're right. Sorry."

I shrugged. "So, which one do we want?"

Nudge looked from me, to the phones, then back to me. "Fang, they're all identical. It's not really a difficult choice. Unless they have different stuff on them. Do you think they have games on them? That'd be cool. I like games. Hey, Max, can we go to an arcade? I like arcades. They have neat flashing lights and really fun games and stuff. Can we Max?"

Max rubbed her forehead. "Probably not, Nudge. It wouldn't really fit with our schedule, you know?"

Nudge nodded and went back to looking at the phones.

"Okay, let's get one and go," Max said. "Nudge is right; they're all identical." She walked over to the display and picked one of them up. "Come on." She waved her arms, indicating we should go somewhere. "Why are you all just standing there?"

I smiled at her impatience, then turned around and headed for the checkout.

We bought the phone with Max's credit card and bought a few hundred minutes to go with it. I was completely unfamiliar with cell phones, so I hoped we could figure this out somehow. We did want it to work, after all. There seemed to be instructions on the packaging, which was good. Maybe we did have a chance at working modern technology. Someone call Ripley's!

Max thanked the clerk a little too nicely, and we left. Time to hit the sky!

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so I was writing this, and realized quite a lot of these chapters or so have been a lot of filler, with not a whole lot of plot development. I'm not sure if any of you noticed/cared, but I decided to ask my faithful readers their opinion. You have two options: one, I keep writing as it is, with relatively frequent updates and not much plot development per chapter, or two, I can try to make the chapters move things along more, which will probably result in much less frequent updates but more interesting chapters. If you pick option one, the story will probably end up much longer, but get to the same place as option two. The only real decision for you guys is extra filler stuff and frequent updates vs. more plot substance. Please review and let me know your opinion. I'm counting on you guys!**


	18. The Call

**A/N: Okay, so you all picked option one, meaning I'll stay with what I'm doing. I will try to get a little more plot in it, but I won't do it in such quantities that it'll slow down my updates. **

**Also, the title of this chapter is actually a song by Regina Spektor that was at the end of the movie "Prince Caspian". It wasn't on purpose, but it fit. And it's a great song, so I don't mind.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 18: The Call  
**

Max's POV

"It says we have to register it," I said, reading the back of the package. "Online or through the phone."

Iggy grimaced. "How are we supposed to do that? We don't exactly have a phone."

"I've got my laptop, though," Fang said. "We can manage it."

"Should we do it now?" I looked down. We were flying over the suburbs of Washington D.C. We could find a place to land without too much trouble.

Fang shrugged. "Why not?"

"Yeah," Iggy agreed. "I want to call her as soon as possible."

I smiled. Such dedication. "Okay Iggy." I turned to call forward to the rest of the flock. "Guys, we're going down!"

They all agreed, and we swooped down toward the ground. I spotted a clearing in a patch of trees and headed for it.

After we'd all landed, Fang sat down with his back again a tree and pulled his laptop out of his backpack. "What's the site?"

I examined the package. Once I found the web address, I relayed it to Fang, who typed it in. We managed to get through most of the instructions, until we got to the part where it asked for a name and address.

"What should I put?" Fang asked. "Obviously we don't have an address to put in."

I nodded slowly. "We could put a fake one in."

Iggy smirked. "What? Joe Smith at 1 Pothole Lane?"

I grinned. "As funny as that would be, Ig, it might actually matter if you use a real address or not."

"How about we use your mom's?" Nudge suggested. "She wouldn't mind, would she? I mean, it's for a good cause. It's not like we're giving it away to bad people or anything. Do you think it would bother her?"

I interrupted before she could add anymore. "No, I don't think she would. That's a good idea, Nudge."

Nudge beamed, obviously happy to help. "You're welcome."

"So, Max Ride?" Fang asked. "Or do you want to use a different name?"

I thought for a minute. "Max Martinez. In case they check who lives at the address."

He nodded and entered the info. "Okay, we have a phone number and a working phone."

"Sweet!" Iggy handed me a piece of paper. "Put in that number and hand me the phone."

* * *

Tess's POV

Tess was sitting at her desk in her bedroom, doing some homework, when her cell phone rang. Looking over, she saw an unknown number flashing across the caller ID. Iggy? But she couldn't get her hopes up. The last two calls she had been sure were Iggy had turned out to be salespeople trying to get her to buy their "wonderful, top-notch" product, "for a limited offer of only twenty-five ninety-nine!"

She answered it anyway. It would be better to have to hang up on a salesperson than miss Iggy's call.

"Hello?"

"Tess?"

A huge smile lit up her face, and she nearly jumped for joy. "Iggy?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, I'm so glad you finally called!" she exclaimed. "What took you so long?"

"Turns out you have to register these TracFone things online," he replied. "Did you know that?"

She laughed. "No. I've never had one. So, how are you?"

"Good. How are you? Nothing happened after I left, right?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, frowning. "Did you expect something to happen?"

"I guess not. I was just worried we'd stirred something up." He sounded anxious. She wondered what sort of trouble him and his family could possibly stir up. They did seem a little mysterious, but not in the "We're criminals" sort of way.

"Well, nothing did happen," she said, trying to sound reassuring. "The rest of the field trip was boringly normal."

"Normal is good," he said, and she almost thought he sounded slightly wistful. What did that mean? Did he have a lack of normal in his life that made him wish for something less interesting? Odd…

"I guess," she replied. "But sometimes I wish my life had a bit more action to it. It's just so…bland."

"Be careful what you wish for," he said, sounding completely serious. "You just might get your wish."

"I'd love to get my wish," she said, before even really thinking about it. "An interesting life, with you always nearby."

He chuckled softly. "That's sweet of you. You might get sick of me though."

"Never," she replied, smiling. "You're far too interesting a person for that."

"More than you know." Huh? He quickly changed topics though, as if he didn't want her dwelling on his last statement too much. "So you have my number now? You can call me?"

Shaking off her confusedness, she said, "Yeah, sure. I'll put it in my phonebook as soon as I get off the phone with you."

"Cool." Then he paused, and Tess faintly heard someone say, "Iggy, we need to go. Get off the phone." He laughed and shouted, "Sure thing, Fang."

"Fang?" Tess asked. "You know someone named Fang? I mean, I heard your sister mention him at the White House, but I didn't get a chance to ask you about it."

There was a brief moment of silence, then Iggy said, "He's my brother, in a way. You knew him as Nick."

Comprehension washed over her. "Oh, right. Sort of like I knew you as Jeff."

"Exactly," he agreed. "Now, I have to go before Max gets irritable. It's not a pretty sight."

"Alright then," she said, laughing. "See you, Iggy."

"I'd say the same," he replied. "But alas, it would be untrue. Call me whenever, though. We'll keep the phone on. It does stay on, right?"

"You don't know much about cell phones, do you?" she asked. "It'll stay on unless you turn it off. Or the battery runs out."

Silence.

"It can do that?"

"Yeah, of course," she replied. "You need to charge it every so often. It comes with a cord."

More silence.

"Well, crap."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry. This chapter's kind of short, but I figured you guys would rather I posted it sooner instead of trying to make it longer.**

**I've been noticing some clichés to my writing (clichéd plotline aside), and I want to know if it's too noticeable. In your review, could you let me know if you noticed any of them or not? Thanks. Much appreciated. =)**


	19. Head For Home

**A/N: I'm not going to put much for an author's note here because I have a huge one at the end. Please read it. But for now, enjoy chapter nineteen!**

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* * *

Chapter 19: Head For Home**

Max's POV

I looked up from where I was rummaging through my backpack. Iggy sounded rather upset. I wondered what the problem was.

Iggy was finishing up his phone call. "Yeah, I'll try," he said into the phone. A pause, then, "Okay. Talk to you later." He removed the phone from his ear, running his fingers over it. "How do you hang this thing up?"

I went over to him and directed his fingers to the appropriate button. "So, what was it?"

He frowned. "What was what? You know, Max, clarification is usually a good thing. Being so vague probably won't get you far, and will make for a lot of misunderstandings."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm rolling my eyes, Ig." Trust Iggy to be such a smartass. "You seemed to have a problem a few seconds before you hung up. What was it?"

"Oh, that." He looked slightly downcast. "Tess informed me that you need to charge these things. As in, plug them into some sort of outlet to keep the battery from dying."

I sighed. "Of course. I suppose we should have expected that. There's only one solution."

Iggy looked up at me, hope on his face. "You mean there is one?"

I nodded. "Yup." _We get rid of it._ But I didn't want to say that to him and destroy his hope. "We'll need to stop somewhere to charge it every once in a while. If we're near my mom's, we can stop there, and I think hotels have outlets in the rooms."

He grinned. "Cool. You mean we get to stay in hotels?"

"Why not?"

Fang came over. "We should get going."

"I know," I replied. "Let's go."

* * *

We flew on, heading somewhat west. About half an hour after we had stopped, Fang flew over to me. He had a look on his face saying I was about to get interrogated.

"What is it?" I asked before he could say anything. "Is the sky falling?"

He stared at me, obviously wondering what had happened to my sanity. "Is your brain on vacation?"

"No," I said, glaring at him. I decided not to stay on that unwelcome subject. "What was it you wanted?"

He was still looking at me rather oddly, but he answered my question. "Do you know where we're going?"

"West," I replied, knowing that wasn't what he meant.

"That's not what I meant." See? "Answer the real question."

"Real question, huh? Okay, then, I guess I'll answer it." I thought for moment. "I don't know. Where could we go?"

Fang shrugged. "I say we should find out about these Voices of yours. Who they are. What they want. Why there seem to be multiples of them."

"Hm…I think the only way to find that out is to ask my Voice," I said. "There's nowhere we can go to learn that."

He smiled wryly. "No, but your Voice doesn't seem too keen on giving us the info either."

I didn't respond to that, though I knew he was right. I was wondering why the Voice hadn't said-

_**You know, there may be a reason I won't tell you anything.**_

Well, so much for not saying anything.

_What do you mean? What sort of reason?_

_**Now if I told you that, Maximum, it would defeat the whole purpose of not telling you.**_

"Huh."

Fang was watching my face, having obviously figured out that I was talking to the Voice. "What?"

"It's being cryptic again." I sighed. "Why can't it just say things straight out?"

He grinned. "That'd be too easy, now wouldn't it?"

"I wouldn't mind easy," I groaned. "You know, for a change."

He didn't reply to that, so I brought the original topic back up.

"If the Voice won't tell me anything," I said. "How the heck am I supposed to figure it out?"

Fang shrugged again. He seemed to be good at that. "Ask Jeb?"

I frowned, not liking the idea of that. I still didn't trust Jeb, even if he did insist that he was on our side now.

"I suppose it is an option," I agreed reluctantly. Fang noticed.

"I know you don't want to," he said. "But we have to find out about this."

"I know, I know," I said. "Where are we supposed to find him though? It's not like he gave us an address and said, 'You can find me here if you need me'."

Fang was silent for a moment, obviously pondering my question. "Maybe your mom knows where he is."

"I doubt it," I replied. "But I guess it's our only lead." I flipped around in midair to face the rest of the flock. "Okay guys," I called over the wind. "We're going back to my mom's."

That was met by unanimous cheeriness, and we turned ourselves in the direction of the only place we could really call home.

* * *

Angel's POV

Angel was angry. She wasn't sure why she was angry, just that she was. She told herself that the anger was directed at Max and Fang, but if she had been truthful with herself she would have realized that a lot of was directed inward. However sure of her words she had sounded, she really was just a six-year-old without her family. Maybe she shouldn't have yelled at Max like that…

_**Angel! What are you thinking? Max deserved that! Remember your plan? Remember your dream?**_

Her dream? Ah, yes, the dream of being free and independent. But did she really want that? All her life, Max had been there to wipe away her tears when she'd cried, fight away anything that scared her, hold her hand whenever she needed it. And now she was shunning that. Could that possibly end well?

_**Angel, stop this right now. You know what you want. You know what you need to do to get that. Get over your childish fears and follow through to the end of this.**_

But…

_**No buts, Angel. This is what you chose. Now finish it.**_

Yes, she would finish it. She would see this path through to the end, and get her independence. She did deserve it, after all. She was the most powerful six-year-old on the planet. That had to deserve something.

Pushing any last doubts or regrets to the back of her mind, she went to get changed into something more suitable for dinner with the president of the United States of America.

* * *

**A/N: Does anyone feel bad for Angel now? From your reviews, you all think she's being a witch with a capital B, but maybe this will make you change your perspective just a little…**

**Also, did anyone notice my references to a certain Evanescence song? If you can name the song I'm talking about you get free virtual ice cream…and a mention at the beginning of the next chapter.**

**Oh, and here's another contest for you (with thanks to eclipsed heart, who I got the idea from). A riddle! It took me and my family **_**forever**_** to figure out, so best of luck to you guys.**

**What does man love more than life,**

**Fear more than death or mortal strife,**

**What the poor have, the rich require,**

**And what contented men desire,**

**What misers spend, and spendthrifts save,**

**And all men carry to the grave?**

**Good luck, and if you figure it out, you get an even more special mention at the beginning of the next chapter. Also, eclipsed heart and Anara Celebvilya aren't allowed to answer this, because I know they already know it. =P**

**So, to wrap up this rather long author's note…review!**


	20. A Lack Of Sleep

**A/N: Okay, so it's time to announce the winners of my contests. Contest number one was to figure out which Evanescence song I sort of used in the last chapter. The correct answer was My Immortal. Congratulations to those who figured it out, which was, surprisingly, less people than the riddle contest. And those people were Chasing Ideas, eclipsed heart, and Anara Celebvilya. (cheers) (whistles) (applause) **

**And for my other contest as to who could figure out the riddle, a grand total of **_**five**_** people got it right. And they would be FireHawk43, SexxiiGuardGirl, Nightfall Daybreak, SeekDreamsAndFindHope, and Ms Thundermania. Congratulations! (more applause and cheers) The answer to the riddle was…(drumroll)…Nothing! Yup. That was the answer. Kind of odd, but true. =)**

**Also, THIS STORY GOT TO ONE HUNDRED REVIEWS!!!!! Thank you guys so much for that. It makes me so happy! =D And a special mention for eclipsed heart, who happened to be my one hundredth reviewer. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou guys so much!**

**And now that all of that business has been concluded, on with chapter twenty!**

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**Chapter 20: A Lack Of Sleep Leads To…**

Max's POV

We touched down in my mom's front yard in mid-afternoon. I was slightly sore from the long hours of flying, and I desperately wanted to just flop down in a comfy armchair and take a nap. Unfortunately, that option wasn't currently open. Instead, I walked up to the front door and knocked, hoping they were home.

They were. My mom opened the door, took in our slightly bedraggled state, and immediately let us in.

"What happened?" was her first question.

"Angel happened," I replied. "I don't really want to talk about it."

She nodded briskly, respecting my right to stay silent. Then she led us all into the kitchen and sat us down with a plate of cookies. Have I mentioned how much I love my mom?

After we wolfed down the cookies, I sat back and tried to think of a good way to approach the subject we'd come to talk about. I decided on the direct approach.

"Actually, Mom," I said. "We came to ask you something."

She raised her eyebrows. "Really? And what might that be?"

I bit my lip. "Do you know where Jeb might be?"

She looked startled. "Jeb? Why?"

Fang decided to step in for this question, since he probably knew I didn't really feel like talking about what had happened with Angel.

"Angel has a Voice in her head," he explained. "Like Max's. We're not sure who or what it is, only that it's different from Max's Voice and it seems to be controlling Angel. Or at least, influencing her in some way."

My mom was silent for a while, digesting the new information. Eventually, she said, "And you want to see Jeb because you think he might know something about the Voices?"

"Exactly," I confirmed. "After all, he originally said that he was my Voice. Even though the Voice said later that it wasn't Jeb, I'm still thinking he must know something about it."

"Hm…" My mom stared out the window for a few minutes. Finally, I felt the need to break her out of her reverie.

"So do you know where he is?" I asked.

She looked at me, still not looking like she was completely with it. "What?"

I sighed. "Do you know where Jeb is?"

Her eyes cleared a little. "Oh. Right. Well, I don't know exactly where he is now, but I know where he lives. Will that help?"

"Sure." Somehow, thinking of Jeb actually living somewhere other than the School seemed odd. Obviously he must have a home, but I guess it never really occurred to me.

"He lives in Oregon," she said. "I'll go get his address." She left the room.

I looked at Fang. "Oregon?"

He shrugged. "I guess."

"Seems kind of weird," Iggy said, licking cookie crumbs off his finger. "I mean, why would he want to live way out there?"

"Don't know," I replied. "Maybe he liked the scenery."

"Yeah," Nudge said. "I've heard that Oregon's really pretty. Lots of trees and forests and stuff. And then there's Crater Lake. I've always wanted to see Crater Lake. It sounds neat, being made from a volcano and all. Do you think you could swim in it? Well, maybe it'd be to cold. Do you think it would be too cold?"

"I don't know, Nudge," I said wearily. "Probably. And it is a national park, so I don't think they'd let you swim."

"Oh," she said, and then lapsed into silence, much to my relief.

A couple minutes later, my mom came back in, with Ella on her heels.

"You guys are back!" she squealed. "Are you staying?"

"'Fraid not," Iggy told her. "We've got other stuff to do."

Her wide grin faded. "Oh. How long are staying before you leave?"

Iggy looked at me. I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess we could stay tonight at least," I said.

Ella smiled again. "Well, that's better than nothing."

Mom came over and handed me a piece of paper. "That's Jeb's address, though I wouldn't count on him being there. He goes away on business a lot."

I nodded. "Alright. Thanks."

She smiled. "No problem. And if you need anything else, just let me know."

* * *

We all had dinner together, which was nice. I'd missed it while we'd been on the run again. Then we set up places to sleep and hit the hay.

I slept surprisingly badly for how comfortable my bed, or couch, was. I had multiple nightmares, most of them having something to do with Angel. I woke up at least four times throughout the night, sweating and shaking. The last time, I couldn't get back to sleep, and it just so happened that I wasn't the only one up. Fang was sitting in one of the armchairs, surfing the net on his laptop.

When he noticed that I'd sat up, he set the laptop aside and came over.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly, so as not to wake up the other occupants of the living room, Gazzy and Iggy, who were still asleep.

"Bad dream," I said shortly. "Why are you up?"

"Couldn't sleep," he replied. "I was looking to see if there were any other instances of people hearing voices in their heads that matched yours and Angel's."

I snorted. "Fang, there are loads of cases like that. It's called insanity. You know, mental disorders."

He smiled wryly. "Yeah, I got a lot of those."

"I take it you didn't find anything like mine?"

"No. Not yet, anyway."

"Well, it does seem to be a somewhat unique thing," I said dryly.

"Hm…" He sat down next to me on the couch, moving my feet over to make room. "I did figure out how to get to Jeb's, though."

"Really? How?"

"I don't really feel like describing the whole route," he said, leaning back and propping his feet on the coffee table. "It's kind of long."

"I meant," I said, shaking my head. "How did you figure it out?"

"Google Earth," he replied. "And you should clarify these things."

I frowned. "Iggy said the same thing earlier."

"Maybe he had a point," Fang said, grinning. "Maybe you should."

I stuck my tongue out at him. Childish, I know, but I felt the need to. He responded by rolling his eyes.

"You're fourteen, Max," he said. "Not three."

I crossed my arms. "So? Maybe I feel like expressing my inner toddler."

"And this is different from how you usually act how…?"

I punched him on the shoulder. "Very funny."

"I thought so," he said, smirking.

I shook my head in exasperation. Then, after a moment of silence, I said, "Shouldn't we be sleeping? You know, so we don't fall out of the sky tomorrow when we're flying?"

"Maybe," he replied, grinning. "Or maybe not."

I raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"Who knows?"

I couldn't help but grin. Fang seemed so…relaxed. It was unusual, but also kind of nice. We didn't get to unwind much, but even when we did, Fang was always still tense and on guard. Tonight, though, it seemed as though he felt completely safe, or at least safe enough to loosen up a bit. I didn't really want to go back to sleep and leave that behind, but I knew that we did need our sleep for the long hours we were going to have to put in the next day.

"Well, obviously you do," I replied. "You said it."

"Doesn't mean I have to know what it means," he replied. "Besides, are you tired?"

"Not really," I admitted.

"Exactly." He turned slightly so that he was facing me. "If you're not tired, why sleep?"

"Because I'll be glad I did when I don't get tired later," I replied. "And since when am _I_ the voice of common sense? I thought that was your job."

He shrugged. "I don't feel like listening to common sense tonight. You want to go for a fly?"

My eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"Well," he said. "Neither of us are tired, we both have wings, and flying at night is fun." He stood up and held out his hand. "Come on. It'll be nice."

I thought for a minute, then grabbed his hand and pulled myself off the couch. What could it hurt?

* * *

**A/N: Okay, this really should continue, but the chapter was getting kind of long, so I decided to split it into two. The flight will have to wait for the next chapter.**

**So, news…I put up a poll on my profile for this story. If you'd like a say, please go put in your opinion. Thanks. =)**

**Review!**


	21. Night Flight

**A/N: Sorry I took a while to get this up. I was having trouble getting it right. I'm still slightly worried that it's a bit OOC, but hopefully it's not too bad.**

**Also, who reading this has heard of Dylan? For those who haven't, I'll explain: He's a bird-kid who's going to be showing up in book six, and apparently he was created to be Max's perfect other half. Who else is already disliking this guy? If you don't believe me, check Wikipedia's description for **_**Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel**_**, or go to my profile, where you'll find the link. It's all there, in it's wonderful nastiness. I **_**knew**_** JP couldn't have Fang and Max's relationship be smooth sailing from here…**

**Now, on with the chapter!  
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Chapter 21: Night Flight**

Max's POV

Once we got up into the night sky, any doubts I had about flying at night were immediately dispelled. The darkness was so peaceful, so serene, so _deep_, that it made me forget all about Angel and the second Voice. I swooped and dived, did flips and turns, and just overall left my troubles behind in my exhilaration.

And the surprising thing? Fang was right beside me, enjoying it just as much as I was, and grinning like there was no tomorrow. It was wonderful, to feel the wind through my hair and get to see Fang so happy. A win-win situation, as some might say.

We just flew for about an hour, but we were exerting a lot of extra energy with all our extravagant flips and dives and had to take a break.

"Where do you want to land?" Fang asked, examining the ground.

I looked with him, then noticed a really neat spot and pointed it out. "How about there?" It was a short cliff, about fifteen feet high. The base of the cliff was where I had pointed, where there was a little waterfall. It looked like a really great little spot to rest.

Fang nodded, and we swooped down toward it. The waterfall was loud, but not unbearably so, and we sat down on some rocks near it to get our breath back. My cheeks were stinging from the cold air rushing past them, and my hair felt knotted and tangled from the wind, but I was happier than I'd been in months. I let out a contented sigh and leaned back against the cliff.

Fang looked over at me and smiled.

"What?" I asked self-consciously. "Did I do something funny?"

He shook his head. "You just look really peaceful," he explained. "It's a different look for you."

I scowled. He laughed.

"That's more like it," he said, grinning. Then he turned serious again. "But you should smile more often. It enhances your features."

I raised my eyebrows. "It enhances my features?" I questioned. "Did you really just say that?"

"Yeah. So?"

I smirked. "Was that just a strange, old-fashioned, round-a-bout way of telling me I look pretty when I smile?"

"Prettier," he corrected quietly.

I stared at him, startled. I had been teasing, but he had sounded quite serious. "Huh?"

"You're always pretty, Max," he said, keeping the same quiet tone. "You're just pretti_er_ when you smile."

I blushed, realizing that the night had taken a decidedly more serious turn, and I wasn't completely sure I liked it…as nice as it was to be flattered.

"Oh," I said faintly, still a little shell-shocked. "Thanks…"

He smiled at me. "You're welcome." Then he moved closer, and I was surprised to find that I didn't feel the desperate need to flee. If anything, I _wanted_ him closer. What was wrong with me?

_**Do you really need to ask that, Maximum?**_

_Shut up._

"Are you going to run out on me this time?" Fang asked softly, picking one of my hands up in his.

My hand felt strangely tingly, and my brain was fogging up, but I still had enough sense to comprehend his question.

"Possibly," I replied, wanting to be honest with him. "I haven't quite decided yet."

He thought that over for a minute. "Okay," he agreed eventually. "How big is the chance that you won't?"

"Getting bigger every second," I said. It was true. My need to run away was shrinking the more we talked. Maybe that's all I really needed; a chance to talk things over and make everything a bit less sudden. As much as I hated talking about my feelings, I hated surprises more.

"That's good." He smiled. "So, how many seconds will it take for it to be gone?"

I cocked my head, pondering. "Probably…a few more."

He shook his head, grinning a little. "You're kind of odd, sometimes," he said.

"I know," I said. "But you love me anyway."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do."

I flushed. I hadn't meant it like that, but Fang certainly did. I squirmed a little. "Really?" I asked quietly.

"Usually," he said, joking again. "Sometimes you just have a way of getting on people's nerves, though."

"Huh." I stared at him for a minute, then caught myself and looked away. Fang noticed though, and smirked at me. I glared back, then accidentally started staring again.

"Any chance of you running anymore?" he asked, breaking me out of my reverie.

"I still don't know," I replied. After a pause, I decided to risk adding, "Try me."

Fang's smile lit up the night, and I held my breath as he leaned toward me. I briefly thought of the fact that that may have been a bad idea, but then his lips touched mine and my thoughts flew out of the virtual window in my brain.

For once, I realized I could simply enjoy the sensation of kissing Fang without feeling the desperate need to flee. Or at least, it was a whole lot smaller. I had no idea why, but it was nice. I'd always hated running out on him like that.

After a couple moments, Fang broke the kiss. He didn't lean back though, leaving us nose to nose.

"You're not running," he said softly. "Am I allowed to take that as a good sign?"

I swallowed, quenching any dregs of my hatred of mushiness. "Yes."

He examined my face for a minute. "Good," he finally replied.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a couple minutes. Eventually I decided to ask a vital question.

"Fang?" I began. When he turned toward me, I continued. "Where does this put us? Are we 'going out' now?" I did air quotes when I said 'going out'. Then I grinned. "Or are we secret lovers?"

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Secret lovers? Have you been reading sappy romance novels without my knowledge?"

"No!" I replied, mock indignant. "Just a passing thought." I paused. "But really, what does this all mean?"

Fang shrugged noncommittally. "It means whatever you want it to mean. I'm not pushing for anything special."

See, that's what I loved about Fang. He never pushed anyone. He was more of a go-with-the-flow sort of guy when it came to other people. Let them have their space and all that. I smiled at him. "Thanks," I said.

"No problem," he replied easily. "Whatever you want."

We stayed there for a while before I finally realized we should probably get back to the house. I pointed this out to Fang.

"Why?" was his relaxed response. "It's not like anyone's waiting for us."

"We need our sleep," I argued, aware of the fact that we'd been here before, and he had won. "Remember the whole 'multiple hour flight' thing we're doing tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we need our sleep for that, don't we?"

"Possibly."

"So we should get back."

"If you insist."

"I do."

He looked at me for a moment. "Alright, then. One condition."

I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously. "There's a condition?"

"Yup." His eyes sparkled in amusement. "One kiss, and you can go back and sleep all you want."

I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "And what if I say no? How are you going to force me to stay?"

He smirked at me. "I'm sure I could find a way."

"I doubt that," I scoffed. "But if you insist…" I trailed off suggestively, and Fang grinned at me.

"Good girl," he said, and leaned in to kiss me.

* * *

It only took us about five minutes to get back to the house. Apparently we hadn't gone far, despite how long we'd been flying. We got back into the house without any problems, but when we got to the living room, my mom was standing in front of the couch, looking annoyed.

"Where have you two been?"

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**A/N: Did I do good? Or is it too OOC? (crosses fingers) I'm hoping no one gets mad at me for this chapter…**

**Also, check out my new story, Unwilling Celebrities, where the flock meets the tabloids. It was just a random thought I had one day, but I'm rather proud of it.**

**Review, or I'll make Dylan show up and steal Max away from Fang. Just kidding…most likely. =P**


	22. Close Encounters With The Mother Kind

**A/N: This chapter sort of goes with the last chapter, but it was getting overly long so I started a new one. Enjoy!**

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Chapter 22: Close Encounters With The Mother Kind**

Fang's POV

_Uh-oh._ Yes, that was my first thought when we got back and saw Dr. Martinez standing there. What was she going to say? Was she going to have the 'Mom Talk' about responsible relationships? I hoped not, because the guy always seemed to be the one getting most of the bad rap from the girl's parents.

"Well?" she prompted. "Where were you?"

"Uh…um…well…we were…" Max looked at me desperately, obviously needing help to get out of the situation. I sighed internally. She was doing it all wrong. If she started out with stuttering, Dr. Martinez was going to pick up that something was strange.

"We were out flying," I said, deciding to stick with as much of the truth as was necessary. "Stretching our wings and enjoying the night."

Max smiled gratefully at me and grabbed my lifeline. "Flying at night is really nice. We do it occasionally."

Dr. Martinez raised an eyebrow. "Just the two of you?" she asked. Well, drat, she suspected something.

"Usually," Max said. "The kids need their sleep."

"Iggy's the same age as you two," Dr. Martinez pointed out skeptically.

"Well, I'm not sure he'd find it that great," Max said, and I could tell she was beginning to grasp at straws. "Not being able to see it and all."

"So you were just flying?"

"Yeah," Max said, she shot a relieved glance in my direction. I could empathize, since Dr. Martinez seemed to be letting up a little…until her next question.

"And you're denying that anything happened between you?"

Max's eyes widened and flicked between me and her mom. "Um…"

Great. Way to go, Max. She had basically just admitted exactly what had happened. Dr. Martinez's eyes narrowed, and she looked at me. I tried my best to look innocent and guileless. I'm not sure if I succeeded or not.

Finally, after much glaring, Dr. Martinez said, "Fang, go back to bed. Max, I'd like to talk to you in the kitchen."

I looked at Max sympathetically. "Good luck," I whispered in her ear as I brushed past her into the living room.

She smiled thinly at me. "Thanks."

* * *

Max's POV

I followed my mom into the kitchen, dreading what was coming next. Why did my mom have to wake up and go to check on us?

_**Because the world has it in for you, Maximum.**_

I was startled. _Voice, was that sarcasm? You're really maturing!_

_**Hm. I must be spending to long with you. You're rubbing off on me.**_

I chuckled, then realized it was out loud. My mom turned around to look at me.

"What could you possibly be finding funny about this?" she asked.

My face flushed. "Nothing. Sorry. It was my Voice, not you."

"If you say so," she said, sitting down in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. "Sit down."

I complied, staying perched on the edge of the chair in anticipation. "So, what's this about?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

My mom raised an eyebrow at me. "I think you know. It's about you and Fang."

I groaned, dropping my head into my hands. "Why?"

"Well, you seem to be getting kind of close," she said. "But how well do you really know him?"

My head whipped up, almost of its own accord, and I stared incredulously at my mom. "Oh, I don't know!" I exclaimed. "I've only known him _my entire life_!"

She frowned. "Calm down. I know that. It's just…" She trailed off, waving her hand vaguely. "I guess it's just…he seems so withdrawn. Does he ever even say anything longer than five words?"

"Yes!" I noticed that I seemed to be on the defensive quite a bit. "More and more often recently, actually. What's with all the criticism of Fang?"

"Max, I'm your mother," she replied, sighing. "I want what's best for you, and I just want to make sure that's what Fang is."

"Why wouldn't he be?" I was starting to get seriously frustrated now. "Where else am I going to find a guy with wings like me that I know as well as him who loves me like he does? Kind of high requirements, don't you think?"

She studied me for a few minutes. "He loves you?"

I nodded. "Told me so himself, earlier tonight. And he's certainly backed it up with everything he's done."

"And do you love him?"

There you have it, folks, the million dollar question. After only a moment of consideration, I replied, "I think so. I only admitted it to myself tonight, though."

My mom smiled and stood up. "Well, it looks like I have no place meddling, then. Just be careful, and you'll probably be fine. You're one of the strongest people I've met, after all, physically and emotionally."

I looked up at her and smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome," she replied. "Now, go get some sleep before the sun comes up."

I went back to the living room, where I found that Fang was still awake. I wasn't really surprised; I hadn't expected him to fall asleep with what was going on. He was pacing back and forth in front of the television, and he looked up when I came in.

"How'd it go?"

"Quite well, actually," I replied, grinning. "She gave me her condolences for having to deal with you, and then she said go for it."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "She didn't actually say the first part."

"Nope," I agreed. "She didn't, but she said it wasn't her place to meddle, and left it up to me."

"I hope you make good decisions, then," he said seriously.

"I already have," I told him, just as seriously, walking over to him. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Half of his mouth quirked up in a smile. "I would indeed. But then, I'm biased."

I shrugged. "Nothing wrong with that." Then I decided to give him our first Max-initiated kiss, if you didn't count that one on the beach the year before, which I didn't. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him senseless.

A minute or two later, Fang broke away and looked up. "Hi, Dr. Martinez," he said calmly.

I whirled around. My mom was leaning against the doorway into the living room, watching us for some unknown reason.

"Mom!" I exclaimed, feeling my cheeks flush. "What the heck?"

She smiled at my indignation. "Sorry. But you were right, Max. I can see that. I'll leave you two alone now, but do make sure you actually get some sleep."

She left, and Fang turned to me. "What did she mean by that?"

"Oh, come on," I scoffed. "You're not seriously that naïve, are you? She meant we shouldn't stay up all night doing you-know-what."

He scowled. "Yeah, I got that. I was asking what she was referring to when she said you were right."

"Oh…that." I looked at my shoes. I wasn't really sure how to respond to that one. "It was just…something I said when we were talking."

He put his hands on my shoulders, and I looked back up at him.

"What was it you said?" he asked patiently, and I realized I wasn't getting out of this one.

"She kept criticizing you," I began. "She even asked how well I really knew you. Can you believe that?"

"I'm guessing you set her straight," he said. "So I'm not really worried."

"Yeah. Anyway, she was talking about how you were really withdrawn and stuff, and then she said she just wanted what was best for me and that she wanted to make sure you were. Obviously I had to defend you, so I pointed out that I probably wouldn't find another guy with wings that I knew as well as you who loved me like you do." My voice had been getting steadily quieter as I talked, and the last few words were pretty much a whisper.

He released my shoulders. "Oh."

I looked at him quizzically. "Are you angry?"

"No," he said. "Why would I be?"

"Maybe you wished I hadn't said that," I said quietly.

"Of course not!" He grabbed my shoulders again. "Max, don't ever think it's not true. That is why you're worried, isn't it?"

I nodded slowly. "I guess."

He shook his head in exasperation. "This is coming from the same place all of your other self-confidence issues. You beat yourself up over things that are in no way your fault, and you, for some reason, believe that no one could love you. That. Is. Not. True. I'm living proof of that, aren't I?"

"Fang, stop," I said, feeling wetness well up in my eyes. "You're going to make me cry, you big, sentimental jerk."

He smiled. "Good. That means I got through to you. It's not a crime to cry, you know."

"It is when you're me," I replied miserably. "I'm not supposed to."

"Max," he said gently. "No rule anywhere says that. You need to let it out just like anyone else."

"_You_ don't," I protested, sniffling a little.

He just shook his head and led me over to the couch. He sat down and patted the seat next to him. "Come here."

I sat down, and he put his arms around me. Just that action made the tears start flowing. We sat like that for what felt like hours, though I'm pretty sure it was less than half an hour. Finally, I fell asleep, feeling Fang next to me, never letting me go.

* * *

Dr. Martinez's POV

Even though Dr. Martinez had told Max she was leaving, she didn't actually. She still wanted to keep an eye on them, so she stayed and listened at the doorway. After all noise had stopped, she looked into the living room and saw them both asleep on the couch, Max wrapped in Fang's arms. Now she was convinced; Fang really did care about Max. Quite a lot, it seemed. And he seemed to know exactly what Max needed whenever she needed it. Content that Max would be safe with him, she went upstairs to get a good night's sleep.

**

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A/N: Wow, that was really long. I'm quite happy with this chapter though. Not to mention it was loads of fun to write. I've always wanted to write a Dr. Martinez encounter like this one. I hope you guys liked it. **

**Review, please!**


	23. Hi Jeb! What's Up?

**A/N: Thank you guys for all your wonderful reviews. This story seems to be getting popular. That makes me happy. =) **

**This chapter gets back to the Angel issue. I know some of you said you missed it, so here it is. It's not particularly informative (that'll probably be the next chapter), but it's a start, you know, to ease off the Faxness of the last two chapters. Okay, I'll just shut up and let you read it, why don't I?**

* * *

**Chapter 23: Hi, Jeb! What's up?**

Max's POV

I woke the next morning to a wonderful feeling of peace and warmth. Turning my head slightly, I realized the warmth was because Fang was sleeping next to me, his arms around me. Remembering last night, I figured that's where the feeling of peace was coming from too. Thinking that I didn't want to know how the flock would react, I decided to wake Fang up.

"Fang!" I hissed in his ear. Due to our wonderful, ingrained ability to wake up quickly and silently, he opened his eyes and raised his head to look at me almost immediately.

"Hey, Max," he whispered. "Sleep good?"

I nodded, then made to sit up. He released me, and I swung my legs off the couch and stood up, stretching. He followed my lead as I went around to wake the rest of the flock up.

While I was doing that, Ella and my mom came downstairs. Ella was fully dressed and bouncing, but my mom was still in her pajamas and somewhat grouchy. She went straight to the coffee maker and watched as it prepared her morning drink.

The flock was equally groggy, but I felt refreshed and ready to fly all the way to India if need be. It was a little odd, considering I'd gotten about half as much sleep as they had.

"We need to leave as soon as possible," I announced to the room-at-large. Six pairs of eyes turned to look at me, some disappointed, some sad, some prepared for it, some deep, dark, mysterious, and warm…Never mind that last part. It's somewhat unnecessary.

"Why can't you stay longer?" Ella asked miserably. "You just got here."

"Ella," my mom said. "You know perfectly well why they can't stay. You know all about Angel. You know all about what she's doing. Therefore, you know what they have to do and why they have to do it."

I looked at my mom for a minute. I'd never heard her quite so cranky. I hoped it didn't have anything to do with last night. She _had_ given us her approval, after all. Or maybe she hadn't. Maybe she was just being nice when she was fine with it. Maybe she had something against Fang. Maybe she was just being an over-protective mother hen and wishing her kids would never grow up.

_**Maybe you're being paranoid.**_

Or maybe that. For once, I sort of agreed with the Voice. I was over thinking things. I decided to distract myself with the matter at hand.

"Mom's right," I told Ella. "We have to leave, and you _do_ know why. We'll come back, though, as soon as it seems possible."

She nodded, looking resigned. "Okay. I guess that'll have to do."

"Yep," I said, and looked at the flock. "Okay, crew, get dressed. We're moving out."

* * *

We flew north. It grew steadily colder as we passed through the states. Despite how warm it had been in Arizona, it was late October, and it was less warm in the northern states. Eventually we all started shivering, and we had to land to find coats. The stop only cost us about fifteen minutes, and then we were in the air again.

We landed on the grass in the park of the town where Jeb supposedly lived around six-thirty that evening. The air was cold, and there was a strong wind that blew through any holes it could find in our coats, no matter how small they were. The town was very small, and I didn't see any people wandering the streets. I turned to Fang.

"Got the address?" I asked him. He nodded. "Lead the way, then."

* * *

Ten minutes and one wrong turn later we were standing outside a well-kept white stucco building.

"Are you sure this is it?" I asked Fang, staring at the house. "It doesn't really seem quite right."

"Yeah," Iggy agreed. "It's too cute."

Gazzy cocked his head. "I thought it'd be bigger."

I shrugged. "Maybe it's not his place and we've got it all wrong, but we still need to go find out." Without checking to see if anyone was following, I headed up the path to the front door. There was a doorbell, so I pushed it and waited.

It didn't take long. Only a couple minutes later, the door opened and a woman poked her head out. She looked to be in her mid-forties.

"How can I help you kids?" she asked, sounding friendly enough.

Fang and I exchanged glances. Did Jeb have a wife? That seemed a little odd to me, but I guess it was possible. I looked back at the woman.

"We're looking for Jeb Batchelder," I told her. "We were told that this was his house."

She nodded. "It is. I can go fetch him, if you like."

"That'd be great," I said.

She smiled. "Okay. Wait here. I'll be back in a minute." She closed the door.

"Who was that?" Nudge asked, looking at the door.

"I have no idea," I replied. "I guess we'll find out, though."

When the door opened again, Jeb was standing in the doorway, with the woman behind him.

"Hello, Max," he said, smiling. "I've been expecting you. Do come in." He stepped aside and gestured for me to go in. I did so, but when the rest of the flock made to follow me, he stopped them. "Not you," he said apologetically. "I'd like to speak to Max alone."

Fang's eyes narrowed. "I don't think so," he said, his voice low. "We go where she goes."

Jeb just smiled. "I admire your loyalty, but I really do need to speak to her alone."

"We can't even come in the house?" Nudge asked, her eyebrows coming together in an expression of confusion. "Why not?"

Jeb looked at Nudge, a small frown forming on his face. Then he smiled widely again. "You're right; why not?" He waved them in. "Minerva can get you something to eat, if you're hungry." The woman behind him smiled at us.

That brightened Nudge and Gazzy's expressions, but Fang and Iggy still looked as suspicious as I felt. Why couldn't Jeb talk to us all? What could he possibly have to tell me that he couldn't tell them?

_Hey, Angel, can you get a read on-_

I stopped suddenly, realizing what I'd been doing. Angel wasn't here. Angel couldn't help. Angel hated my guts. My heart gave a painful squeeze, and I looked at Fang.

"It's okay," I said, knowing he would refuse to let Jeb talk to me alone unless I asked him. "You go on. I'll be fine." I had to play by Jeb's rules for now, if I wanted any information to help me with Angel.

Fang studied me for a minute, then nodded reluctantly. 'Be careful' his eyes said, and I nodded back to him, confirming that I'd gotten his unspoken message. He gave me one last look, then followed Minerva, gesturing for the others to follow him.

Once they were gone, Jeb turned to me. "Let's go in the other room, shall we?"

I nodded and followed his lead, hoping I wasn't walking into the worst mistake of my life.

* * *

**A/N: And there it is. Jeb has been introduced. What's he going to tell Max? Well, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? In the meantime, reviews are greatly appreciated. =)**


	24. Firewing

**A/N: Okay, I seriously thought I already posted this, but it turns out I didn't. Anyway, here it is. Oh, and... **

**One hundred and fifty reviews, you guys! That's awesome! Thank you all!**

* * *

**Chapter 24: Firewing**

Angel's POV

Angel was in her room, on the computer that had been provided for her. She'd found a really fun website where you could adopt these really cool pets and take care of them. There was a whole world, too, and you could explore it with your pets. There were games to play to make money, and you could sell items in your shop for money too. If you wanted to, you could even have your pets fight other people's pets. Angel liked that part.

_**Angel, don't you have other things you should be doing?**_

_But this is fun._

_**Sure it is, but it's not getting you anywhere.**_

_Does it need to?_

_**Of course. You're still a child. You should be learning. This isn't educational at all.**_

_I want to have fun for a little while, okay?_

……_**Okay. But only for a little bit. Then I have something to show you, and I'm sure you'll like it.**_

* * *

An hour later, Angel logged off the site and hopped down from her chair.

_Okay, I'm ready. What did you want to show me?_

_**Walk to the middle of your room.**_

Angel obeyed, walking to stand at what she thought was the exact middle of her rather large room.

_**Now, concentrate on the coffee table.**_

Angel frowned. _The coffee table?_

_**Yes, Angel. The coffee table.**_

Still frowning, Angel did as she was told.

_**Do you want a parrot, Angel? Or a parakeet?**_

Not really sure what that had to do with the price of tea in China, Angel thought about the question. _I guess it could be fun to have a bird. Why?_

_**Have you ever seen a parrot?**_

_At the zoo, yes. Why?_

_**Picture the parrot in your mind's eye. Whatever color you want.**_

Angel did so, still very confused.

_**Now manifest it. **_

The image of the bird fled her mind, replaced by surprise and confusion._ Do what?!_

_**Oh, for goodness' sake. Manifest it. You have a new power. I'm teaching you to use it.**_

Angel's eyebrows rose. _I have a new power? Why didn't I know?_

_**Because you just got it, and it hasn't made it's first appearance.**_

_Oh. So what is it you want me to do?_

_**Picture the bird in your mind. Then make it real.**_

_I can't do that! I don't know how!_

The Voice made a sound that sounded almost like a sigh of exasperation. _**Yes, you can. Just concentrate. It'll be easy after the first time.**_

Angel wasn't really sure what the Voice meant, but she stared at the coffee table and brought the image of the bird back into her mind. _Now what?_

_**I told you; make it real. Make it solid.**_

_That's it?_

_**Yes.**_

_But I don't know _how_._

_**Yes, you do. Not mentally, maybe, but physically.**_

_Huh?_

_**Your mind has no idea what to do, but you should be able to feel it. Your body knows what to do.**_

Still not completely understanding, but trusting her Voice enough to not need to, she focused on her mental picture of the bird again. Later, she could never have explained how it happened, but slowly, very slowly, the bird faded into existence. The last bit was the hardest, like she had to push it into being, but it came. It squawked and looked up at her, flapping its wings.

_**Excellent! You've passed the hardest part. Now you should be able to manifest anything, anytime. **_

_Anything? Anything at all?_

_**Yes.**_

_Wow!_ Angel stared at the bird in amazement. Slowly, she held out her hand to it. It squawked and flapped over to sit on her arm. _Can I teach it to talk?_

_**You don't have to teach it. You made it, so it will do almost anything you want it to.**_

She stared at the bird for a minute, then said, "Hello, birdy."

_Squawk!_ "Hello!"

Angel grinned, fascinated. "How are you?"

_Squawk!_ "Good. Hungry."

She patted its head. "Okay." She turned to bring it into the kitchen, but her Voice stopped her.

_**Just manifest a cracker.**_

_Oh, good idea._ She made a cracker. The Voice was right; it was much easier now that she knew what to do. Smiling she handed the cracker to the parrot.

_Squawk!_ "Cracker good!"

"You need a name, birdy," Angel said softly, stroking its colorful feathers. "I'm going to call you…" She trailed off, thinking. What would be a good name for this magnificent creature? Polly was far too cliché…Besides, it seemed more like a boy. She examined him, looking for anything she could name him by. Her eyes were drawn to his bright red wings. "Firewing!" she exclaimed. "You're name will be Firewing."

_Squawk!_ "Firewing!"

"That's right," Angel said. "That's your name. Firewing."

_Squawk!_ "Me Firewing."

"Good boy!" Angel gave him another cracker._ I like him._

_**I know. He's yours now. Take good care of him.**_

_I will. _She manifested a bird stand for him to sit on, and let him hop onto it. He settled down, looking content.

_**So, now that you know how to manifest, I have a job for you…**_

* * *

**A/N: I know you guys probably wanted to find out what was going on with Max and Jeb and those guys, but don't worry. I'll get to that next chapter. **

**Okay, another contest: Who can tell me what website Angel was playing on at the beginning of the chapter? Don't actually use the (dot)com in your review, as FF will block it. Just the main name of the site. It's a relatively popular site, and I actually used to play it when I was younger. Whoever gets it right gets a mention at the beginning of the next chapter. (Anara, you are not allowed to guess this!)**

**Reviews are much loved, so don't forget!**


	25. Information Overload

**A/N: Okay, two things. One goes here, and I'll put the other at the end. The first thing is about that contest I had at the end of the last chapter. Apparently it was far too easy, because every single person who reviewed got it right. The correct answer was Neopets, but I don't really have time to go and find everyone who got it right. Just know that if you reviewed, you got it right. Congratulations, guys!**

**Now, on with the story, but make sure you read the A/N at the end.**

* * *

**Chapter 25: Information Overload**

Fang's POV

I didn't trust this Minerva person at all. She was far too…nice. I know that sounds extraordinarily paranoid, and maybe it is, but something about her just struck me as wrong. Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy sat down at the kitchen table, but I remained standing, both because I could tell it would get on Minerva's nerves and because it made it much easier to make a fast get-away.

Minerva bustled around the kitchen, pulling out plates, forks, and napkins. Then she pulled a chocolate cake out of the fridge, and Nudge and Gazzy's faces lit up with delight. As appetizing as the cake looked, it only made my Danger Meter shoot up even further. Why would they have had an entire chocolate cake laying around? They had obviously been expecting us, and that made me uneasy.

"So, are you Jeb's wife?" Nudge asked Minerva through a mouthful of cake.

Minerva smiled. "No. I'm just the housekeeper." She opened the fridge and pulled out four bottles of Mountain Dew. If I'd been more prone to expressing my emotions, I'm sure my eyeballs would have popped out of their sockets. Was this lady stark, raving mad?! She was going to make them all hyper, and dealing with a hyper Nudge is incredibly annoying. You know, the kind of annoying that makes you want to pull out all your hair or shove someone off a cliff. I decided to intervene.

"I don't suppose you have anything a little less…caffeinated, do you?" I asked. "These guys don't react well to overdoses of caffeine, as a general rule."

Minerva looked over at me. "Oh. I'm sorry." She went back to the fridge and took out a carton of milk instead. "Is this better?"

I nodded, avoiding Nudge's look of indignation, and Minerva poured it into glasses, then passed them around. When Minerva came over and offered one to me, I refused.

"Are you sure?" she asked, frowning. "Calcium is good for the bones, you know."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure."

She continued frowning, but eventually walked back and set the glass on the table.

This whole scenario was giving off a _very_ strange vibe.

* * *

Max's POV

I followed Jeb into the living room. Once we were both inside, he closed the door behind him and went to sit on one of the two couches that were facing each other. He gestured for me to sit in the other one, and I did so, but only because there wasn't really anything else to do.

"So, Maximum," he began.

"Max," I interrupted. "It's Max. Not Maximum." Despite the fact that Maximum _was_ my name, I really didn't like how Jeb and the Voice constantly felt the need to use the whole thing.

He didn't seem surprised or angry. He just nodded and continued. "Max. You want to know about Angel and her Voice, correct?"

I nodded, not bothering to ask how he knew that. I'd learned that Jeb knew things, and questioning how only got you strange half-answers that never made any sense.

"Well, I believe I have some of the answers you're looking for," he said. "Angel's Voice is the same as yours."

What?! But…my Voice had said it _wasn't_ the same. It had never lied to me before, so I had never thought it might be lying this time. All I managed to say was, "But…I…"

Seeing my shocked expression, Jeb shook his head. "I phrased that wrong, didn't I? What I meant was, Angel's Voice is the same kind of thing as yours. Not the same entity, just the same _sort_ of entity."

I frowned. "Entity? You mean the Voices aren't human?"

"No," Jeb replied. "They're not. They're…It's kind of hard to explain. I guess the closest thing to it would be that they're really just random bits of energy and consciousness floating around. Every once in a while they'll find a mind that they can connect with enough to…inhabit it."

I blanched. "It's _inhabiting_ me?" I really didn't like the sound of that. It made it sound like it was some sort of parasite or something that was taking over my brain.

"In a manner of speaking, yes." He looked at my face, seeming to notice the fearful expression there. "Don't worry, it's not possessing you or anything. It's just using your mind as a way to speak to the world, because it has no other way. You're more like a conduit of sorts."

"How did it know all that stuff it was always telling me?" I asked, thinking back on all the advice I'd ever gotten from the Voice. It had usually been right.

"As a bit of consciousness, it has a way of reaching out to the rest of the consciousnesses of the world," Jeb replied. "It can sort of…feel things that most people can't. Therefore, it knows things that most people don't. Occasionally it can even read minds, if they're close to the same–well, wavelength, so to speak–as it is. It can only inhabit ones that are almost identical to it, though."

I decided to get a second opinion on all the wacky stuff Jeb was telling me.

_Is he telling the truth?_

_**Yes. All of this is true. Angel's Voice is just another bit of energy, like me.**_

Was it just me, or did the Voice sound a little bitter? I wondered if it didn't like the fact that it was just some random bit of consciousness floating around. I suppose I wouldn't like it, if it was me. I'd probably feel pretty darn insignificant.

_It's okay,_ I thought. _You're more than just a random bit of energy to me._

_**That's really nice of you to say. Thanks, Maximum.**_

_You're welcome, Voice._

Well, wasn't this nice. I was having a touchy-feely conversation with the voice in my head. Quite the Hallmark moment.

I returned my focus to the conversation at hand. "So what does this have to do with Angel, and why is she trying to take over the country?"

"It seems as though Angel's Voice has a bit more control over her than normal," Jeb replied. "It's possible that it's because her mind is so young. Or because it's so different, what with the mind reading and mind-control. Either way, something about her is different, and it has allowed her Voice to get more of a hold on her mind, instead of just inhabiting her and talking to her. My guess is that whatever Voice Angel has is one that isn't quite as nice as yours, and it has some rather tyrannical ideals."

I processed this new information for a minute. It was all so _strange_. Random bits of consciousness? Tyrannical Voices? Angel being possessed, so to speak?

"Okay," I finally said. "I have two questions, both of them important."

"And they are?"

"The first," I said. "How do we get this thing out of Angel?"

"A good question," Jeb agreed. "And one I'm not completely sure I can answer. The only way I know of for certain is, well…killing her."

I stared at him. "No!" I finally exclaimed. "I am _not_ killing Angel! No way!"

"Calm down, Maxim– Max." At least he remembered my request about the name. "I didn't say it was the _only_ way. Just that it was the only way I was certain about. I have heard of other options, it's just that none of them always work, and some of them have never even been attempted. But I would never ask you to kill Angel."

"So what are the other ways?" I asked desperately, trying not to lose control. I couldn't kill Angel…I couldn't kill Angel…

"There are a few," he began, and after that the talk turned very scientific. All I really got out of it was that they all involved knocking her unconscious and injecting her with stuff. As much as that sounded better than killing her, I still didn't really want to resort to that.

"There's got to be a way," I said, still hearing desperation tinge my voice. "Some way to just…make it go away."

"Well, I'll research it," he said. "But I'm not promising anything." We were both silent for a moment, then Jeb said, "You had another question?"

"Oh, yeah." The answer I'd gotten to my last question had completely pushed my second question out of my mind. Now, though, it came back. "How do you know all this stuff?"

Jeb smiled. "I would have thought it'd be obvious. I have a Voice as well."

* * *

**A/N: Gasp! Who's surprised? So, this was the 'load of information' chapter. I hope it satisfied you guys. **

**Anyway, here's the second thing that I said I'd put at the end, which is both the reason this chapter took so long to come out, and the reason you probably won't be seeing another one for a while: I'm doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, for those who don't know), and I'm currently devoting most of my time to finishing my 50,000 word novel before November 30****th****. So please don't shoot me if I don't come out with another chapter for a while. And for those of you who are also reading Unwilling Celebrities, it's the same situation for that one, and I'm afraid I probably won't be able to update that one any time soon. Thank you all for your wonderful support and understanding.**

**Now, review! =)**


	26. We're Outta Here!

**A/N: I'm back! November is over, NaNoWriMo is done, and I am officially updating again. Isn't that exciting? =) And in case any of you were mildly curious, yes, I did win NaNoWriMo. I got to 53,000 words. Yay, me!**

**And no, your long awaited chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 26: We're Outta Here!**

Max's POV

Wait…what? Did _everyone_ have a Voice now? Despite the fact that having one made me feel slightly schizophrenic, it had also made me feel a little special. Now, apparently, it was all the rage to have someone else in your head with you. How irritating.

"You're kidding, right?" was what I finally managed to say, after I'd gotten over the initial shock of Jeb's statement.

"No, Max," he replied, sighing. "It's true. My Voice is somewhat less informed than yours, but also less secretive, so I was able to find out what it was."

"Less informed?" I asked. "How so?"

"The wavelength it's on is highly uncommon," he explained. "Therefore, there are less minds that it has access to. It has a higher ability to sense other Voices, though. That's how I knew you were coming."

So was Jeb's mind better than everyone else's? Is that why he was on a different wavelength? Or maybe he was just…special. I resisted the urge to snicker.

I was about to reply when the door slammed open and Fang burst in. "Max, we have to go. Now."

* * *

_Five minutes previously…_

Fang's POV

The only noise in the kitchen for about fifteen minutes was Nudge randomly quizzing Minerva on everything from her childhood to what kind of music she liked to how long you were supposed to leave a cake in the oven before it was done. I was doing my best to zone out the chatter, as it would only distract me from anything else that happened. Even though everything seemed safe enough, I wasn't about to let my guard down.

Then the peace was broken by a loud jingle, seemingly originating from Iggy. He looked surprised, then his expression cleared.

"TracFone," he said, and I nodded. We had decided to give Iggy the phone, after telling him how to answer it, since any call would be for him. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and ran his fingers over its face, looking for the correct button. He found it. "Hello?"

There was a long pause, and Iggy's face grew steadily paler. Finally, he asked quietly, "Are you okay?" A shorter pause this time. "I'm glad. Is there anything I can do, though?" Another pause. "No, I don't think so. But maybe we could come to you." Pause. "As soon as possible, I promise. I'll see you soon……Yeah, bye." He hung up, then looked up in my direction. "Get Max. We need to leave."

I frowned. "Why?"

"Tess's school just got attacked," he replied. "She said she wasn't hurt, but I told her we were coming."

"We can't just leave, Ig," I said, though I could understand why he would want to go. "And it's going to take us around a day to get back there."

"I don't care," Iggy said forcefully. "It's better than not going at all."

"Did she say what they were attacked by?" I asked, realizing that would probably be a helpful thing to know.

Iggy's expression turned to uncertainty. "Yeah…well, she said they were attacked by a huge flock of parrots. Enough to overpower the entire school."

My eyebrows rose, almost against my will. "She said what?"

He scratched his head. "I know. It sounds really strange, doesn't it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, yeah it does. I think you're right, Ig. I think we need to go."

* * *

_And back in the present…_

Max's POV

Jeb looked at Fang with disapproval evident on his face. "I thought I told you that I wanted to speak with Max _alone_?"

Fang ignored him. "Iggy just got a call from Tess. We need to leave."

"Tess?" I asked, surprised. "That's nice. Why does it mean we have to leave?"

He just shook his head. "Trust me on this one. We need to go _now_."

I did trust him. I always had. I stood up. "Okay."

Jeb stood up also. "Maximum! We weren't finished!"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Gee, I thought we were. Was there something else incredibly urgent you needed me to know?"

Jeb's face turned rather red. "Well…Yes! But I'm not telling you with him here." He indicated Fang.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" I exclaimed. "His name is Fang, not 'him'! Since when are you so astonishingly unpleasant to the rest of the flock?"

"You're far more important than they are, Maximum," Jeb said. "They don't mean anything. You have a destiny. You deserve better treatment."

"Okay, I am really, really sick of all that crap," I told him angrily. "I don't care if I'm supposed to save the world, or if I have some wonderful destiny. I don't care if you think I'm somehow exceptional. They are just as good as me. Some of them are even better!" Admittedly, I had one person in mind when I said that, and I think my glance in his direction told him as much. "So if you're not going to treat them civilly, I'm done here." With that, I stalked over to where Fang was still standing by the door. "Let's go."

He smiled at me. "Nice speech. Made me feel important."

"You are important," I replied. "Very, very important."

Then we turned and left, hearing Jeb's shout of "Maximum!" behind us.

When we got to the door, we found the rest of the flock already there, waiting patiently–or not so patiently, in Iggy's case; he was fidgeting quite a bit–for us to show up. When we appeared, Nudge jumped up from where she'd been sitting against the wall.

"Oh, you're here," she said. "Are we leaving then? Are we going to go back to Virginia now?"

"Yes, Nudge," I said. "Let's go."

Iggy looked relieved. "Thanks, Max. I knew you'd be okay with going, especially for something like this."

"Well, I'm actually not really sure what 'this' is yet," I replied. "But you guys can fill me in on the way. Let's hit the skies!"

I threw open the door and launched myself upward, hoping to get us all out of the house before Jeb decided to do something drastic to make me stay. Something was up with him, but I didn't plan to stick around and find out.

We made it just fine. Five minutes later we were all on our way to Virginia, leaving Jeb's house far behind us.

Fang and Iggy explained the situation to me. It was somewhat strange, I had to agree, but no less urgent for it.

"Who would possibly want to attack Tess's school, anyway?" I wondered aloud. "It's not exactly high on the danger list."

"Maybe not," Iggy agreed. "But don't you remember when we were there? Gazzy and I found those papers, and we figured something fishy was going on there."

I nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. I still don't see why that would merit an attack, though. It seems more like that would keep them from being attacked."

"Depends on who's doing the attacking," Fang said.

We all fell silent after that, thinking it over. He was right. Besides, parrots weren't usually the School's ideal choice of attack. Erasers, maybe, or Flyboys, but not parrots. The whole thing was giving off some very strange vibes.

I was still pondering these thoughts when I noticed movement underneath me. I looked down to see Gazzy plummeting out of the sky.

* * *

**A/N: I know, I know. You're probably going, "Author's note already? But look at all that scroll space left…This can't be right." Don't worry, your computer's not malfunctioning. I've decided to give you all an excerpt from my NaNoWriMo story! Don't you feel special? **

**If you don't want to read it, feel free to just scroll past it, but please still review. =)**

* * *

I decided to go straight home after I helped Fiona and Jaxin clean things up from the spell. I'd been spending a lot of time in Arnadé recently, and I figured it would be a good idea to be home more often. I bid them both farewell (ha, that line sounded really cheesy), and teleported home.

I arrived in my bedroom, as usual. I was about to go get my normal, American clothes to change into, when I noticed something somewhat out of place.

Gail was standing in the door way to my bedroom, her mouth wide open, staring at me.

Oh dear.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, extraordinarily shocked. This was bad.

Gail's mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally managed to answer me. "I just stopped by to ask you something. I rang the bell a few times, but you didn't answer, so I decided to try the door. It was open so I figured you were home. I was just looking for you when you…" She paused, as if searching for a good word. "Showed up."

"Oh." I looked at her. She looked a little freaked, but seemed to be trying to put on a brave face. "I suppose you want an explanation, don't you?"

She nodded. "Kind of, yeah. I mean, it's not every day you see someone just kind of pop into existence like that."

"Well, here's the story," I began. I told her everything, from how I accidentally teleported two years ago and wound up in Arnadé to the quest for the Gem of Trinity to the invasion of the Arzgrari. She took it quite well, I thought. She looked more impressed than scared, which I took as a good sign. When I finished, she stared at me for a minute.

"So you're a…" She paused. "UBT, was it?"

I grinned. "IDT, actually, and yes, I am. Apparently I'm one of about ten on Earth."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Wow. Aren't you lucky."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Very much so."

There were a few moments of silence, then Gail asked, "So, do I get to see it?"

I frowned. "See what?"

"Arnadé, of course," she replied. "You've told me all about it, and now I want to see what it's like. You said you can take passengers, so you can take me, right?"

I pondered that for a minute. "I guess I could," I said uncertainly. "I don't see any reason not to. I don't think they have any laws about it…"

She grinned. "Great! When do we leave?"

"Don't you have things to do tonight?" I asked. I paused. "You never did say why you were over here in the first place."

"Oh, that." She waved her hand dismissively. "Ryan's having a party–"

"_Another_ one?" I asked incredulously. "What is with that guy?"

Gail shrugged. "He likes parties. Anyway, I was just going to ask if you wanted to come. But I totally don't mind skipping it. This is _way_ cooler."

"Alright then," I said. "We can leave now. The sooner the better, actually. We have to be back before my mom gets home tonight."

She nodded. "What do I do?"

"_You_ don't do anything," I told her. "I do. Just hang on to my hand. I'll do the rest." I held out my hand to her, and she took it. "Ready?" She nodded, looking nervous and excited. "Okay. Here we go."

I pushed my way through the barrier, and fifteen seconds later we were standing on the path that led up to Castle Arnadé.

Gail looked around in astonishment. "Wow," she breathed. "This is…amazing."

"I know," I said. "Come on. Let's go introduce you to the others." I headed up the path, and Gail followed me without hesitation.

When we reached the gate, Fiona was standing there, looking puzzled.

"Hey, Kiri," she said. "Back already?"

"Yeah…well, the situation's changed a little. I have another 'extra'." I put air quotes around the word extra, and she grinned, recognizing my jibe at her previous wording. Then Gail came up next to me, and Fiona raised her eyebrows.

"Her?" she asked.

I nodded, and Gail looked offended. "'Her'?" she asked incredulously. "I'm not a 'her'."

"I'm sorry," Fiona said. "That was kind of rude." She looked at me. "Are you coming in, or are you going to stand out there all evening?"

I grinned. "We're coming in."

Gail and I entered the castle, and I made introductions. "Gail, this is Fiona. Fiona, this is Gail. I believe you both know _of_ each other, so that's not a big deal."

They both nodded.

"Where's Jaxin?" I asked Fiona.

She shrugged. "Around the castle somewhere, probably. I haven't seen him since we finished the spell."

Just then, in an extremely crazy coincidence, Jaxin came into the courtyard.

"Hey, Fiona, I–" He broke off, noticing me and Gail. "Oh, hi Kiri. I thought you left."

"I did," I said, grinning. "I came back."

Next to me, Gail was staring at Jaxin. She turned to me and whispered, "He is _hot_! You are incredibly lucky."

I raised my eyebrows. "What makes you think that's him?"

"It is, isn't it?" she asked, looking like she already knew the answer.

"Yeah," I said, smiling wryly. "But you _could_ have been wrong."

Jaxin came up to us. "Who's that?" he asked, gesturing to Gail. "Another passenger from Earth?"

"At least it's not another good-looking guy, right Jaxin?" Fiona said, grinning.

He scowled. "Will you let that go, already? I'm over it…mostly."

Fiona and I both grinned widely at him. "Sure you are," we said, exactly in unison. It was kind of cool.

I laughed. "Yes, she's a passenger from Earth, except she actually lives there. Jaxin, meet Gail, my best Earthling friend."

He smiled. "Hi Gail."

"Hi," she replied. "I've heard a lot about you." Of course, she just had to put just the right touch to her tone that no one could have any doubt as to _what_ she'd heard about him. I groaned.

"Gail, you and your innuendos are going to get into trouble someday," I told her. "You just can't say anything innocently, can you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said–wait for it–innocently. Great. She just _had _to prove me wrong.

I shook my head exasperatedly, but I was smiling. I turned to Fiona. "I don't suppose you know where Darryn is, do you?"

"What do you want to talk to _him_ for?" Jaxin asked, scowling.

"I thought you were over it," I commented casually.

He glared at me. "I am. It was a perfectly normal question."

"'What do you want to talk to _him_ for?'" I quoted, emphasizing his stress on 'him'. "It wasn't normal the way you said it."

"I really don't see how it matters," Jaxin said, a pained expression on his face. "Can you just answer the question? I don't need psycho-analysis, here."

"Fine," I said, smirking. "I just wanted him to meet Gail. You know, get the whole gang together."

Jaxin's pained expression turned into one of alarm. "Hang on…'the whole gang'? Since when is Darryn part of the gang? If a gang ever existed in the first place, that is."

I sighed. "I didn't mean it in the excruciatingly literal sense. I just meant I wanted Gail to meet the castle regulars. Zyon, too, if he's around."

"He's not really a regular, either," Jaxin muttered. "He just got here." He still sounded displeased, but I could tell he was giving up the argument, so I decided to ignore the last comment.

"Come on, Gail," I said. "We have people to find."

* * *

Zyon was easy to find. He was in his workshop, as usual. I introduced him to Gail, and vice-versa. We didn't stay to chat, though. Zyon said he had some delicate spells going on, and he'd rather we weren't there to distract him. So, we went to find Darryn.

It took us about twenty minutes, but we finally located him in one of the back gardens that no one ever uses. He was sitting on a bench under a tree, apparently lost in thought. I managed to get within five feet of him before he even noticed I was there. Must have been some deep thoughts.

When he did notice me, he jumped a little, looking startled. "Oh. It's you." His expression relaxed. "Don't you know it's rude to sneak up on people?"

I shrugged. "I guess I missed that etiquette lesson."

I thought I saw a hint of a grin flash briefly across his face. "So, what is it you want? I can't imagine you just came to chat, what with your overprotective boyfriend watching my every move."

I scowled. "Jaxin is _not_ my boyfriend, and he's just being pig-headed and jealous. But you're right, I didn't just come to chat." I gestured Gail over. "I came to introduce you to a friend of mine."

"She's not really my type," Darryn said, smirking a little. "Kind of you to try though."

I whacked the back of his head, and Gail laughed. Darryn just rubbed his head and stared up at me, looking hurt.

"What was that for?"

"You were being a pig," I said. "It wasn't a matchmaking attempt. Gail is my friend from Earth, and she just found out about Arnadé. I was just introducing her to all the locals, yourself included."

"Ah." Darryn nodded at Gail. "Nice to meet you."

"Ditto," Gail replied, grinning. "And I have to say, watching you get whacked upside the head was quite entertaining, despite the fact that I really don't know you."

Darryn raised an eyebrow. "Glad my pain could be enjoyed by someone."

"I enjoyed it too," I put in. "Very satisfying."

He just shook his head. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a rather violent person?"

"No," I said. "You're the first."

"Not really," he countered. "I didn't actually say you were violent. I was just wondering if people told you that a lot."

"Nope." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "Should I try to make them say it? I could probably do a decent job at it."

"Violent chicks don't get the guys," Darryn said. "I wouldn't go there."

I knew, before she even opened her mouth, that Gail wasn't going to let that statement slide past without some sort of comment. I was right.

"That's okay," she said. "Kiri definitely doesn't need any more guys. She seems to have enough as it is."

I groaned, and Darryn frowned.

"Really?" he asked. "How many?"

Gail smiled sweetly. "Well, only two, actually, though I think there may be one guy in our grade…" She trailed off. "Nah, mainly just the two."

"And who would those two lucky guys be?"

Gail took on a faux shocked expression. "I'd think you would know, being one of them. Competing with a prince…" She shook her head sadly. "Tough lot you've got there."

Darryn's eyes narrowed, and he turned to me. "Your friend is a little too perceptive for her own good, I think."

I shrugged. "It's not just her. Jaxin, Fiona, and Zyon have all been going on about it too. It's somewhat annoying, really."

"It's your own fault, really," Gail said. "I mean, it's not like you–"

We never got to find out what she was going to say, because that was when Jaxin and Fiona burst into the garden.

"Kiri! Darryn!" Fiona called. "They've called an immediate war council, and we're all invited for once. Let's go!"

I looked at her. "What about Gail?"

She shrugged. "She can come too, I guess. Hurry up, though. It starts in a few minutes."

* * *

**A/N (again): Wow. That was a longer excerpt than I'd been planning (it's almost twice the length of the original chapter!), but I couldn't figure out a way to make anything shorter make enough sense to be worth it. Anyway, if you did decide to read it, then feedback would be lovely. Also, if you want to read the whole thing, I'm posting it on FictionPress, where I am also Kina Kalamari. **

**Now, reviews would be wonderful. I've missed them this past month. =)**


	27. You Snooze, You Lose

**A/N: Okay, eclipsed heart pointed out that at the end of my last chapter it didn't say where it was that I was posting my NaNoWriMo. Sorry about that, I accidentally put in the dot com, therefore it erased it. It's FictionPress(dot)com, for any who are interested.**

* * *

**Chapter 27: You Snooze, You Lose**

Max's POV

I watched in horror as Gazzy fell, part of me knowing that I really should do something about it. The larger part of me, however, was too shocked to do anything. Luckily for me, my bad reaction time didn't condemn Gazzy. Fang noticed what was happening and immediately swooped down to catch him.

"What's going on?" Nudge asked, panic evident in her voice. "What happened to him?" For once, she kept her questions to the point. I guess fear does that to people.

"I don't know," Fang replied, looking down at the boy in his arms. "He looks like he's…sleeping."

I flapped my way over to him to look at Gazzy myself. Fang was right. Gazzy did just look like he was sleeping. He had a peaceful look on his face, and as I watched, he let out a small snore.

"Let's land," I said. "We can't carry him the whole way to Virginia."

We found a clearing in the trees and made our way down to it. When we were twenty feet above the ground, Nudge started yawning.

"I feel really tired," she said, her words slightly slurred from drowsiness. "I can't…keep…flapping…" She trailed off, and then her wings folded and she dropped as well. This time I was faster and managed to slow her descent to the ground. I wouldn't have been able to carry her, though, so it was a good thing the ground was so close.

Once we were all on the ground, I looked at Fang and Iggy. "What the hell is going on?"

They both just shrugged, and I noticed that Iggy looked tired too. Was the same thing happening to him? "Do you feel tired too?" I asked him, wanting to confirm my suspicions.

He nodded drowsily. "You guys?"

I looked at Fang, who looked as alert as I felt. He shook his head, and I said, "I guess not" out loud for Iggy's benefit.

Iggy looked like he wanted to pursue the matter, but he also looked like he was about to drop from exhaustion.

"Why don't you lay down somewhere comfortable," I suggested. "That way we don't have to deal with catching you when you fall asleep."

"So accommodating," Iggy muttered sarcastically, but he did as I recommended. Thirty seconds later, he was fast asleep.

I turned to Fang. "I don't suppose you have any thoughts on the matter?"

"No," he replied. Then a slow, suggestive smile appeared on his face. "But it seems as though we're alone for the moment…"

I punched his arm. "I thought Iggy was the pervert in this flock." He shrugged, but didn't say anything. Not that that was uncharacteristic. "Well, we still need to figure out what's going on. Why is it only them? How come we're fine? And what's causing it in the first place?"

Fang looked thoughtful. "You know," he said slowly. "I may have a theory…" He trailed off, apparently still thinking.

When a full minute had passed and he still hadn't continued, I decided to prompt him. "And this theory of yours is…?"

His head turned in my direction and his eyes refocused on me. "What?…Oh, sorry." He shook his head, as if to clear it. "I was thinking about when we were at Jeb's. You know how his housekeeper took us into the kitchen while you were talking with him?"

I raised my eyebrows. "So she was his housekeeper? I never did think that Jeb could have had a wife. Too radical of a notion."

His mouth quirked a little, but he just continued, "Well, she gave us cake and milk. Those three…" He indicated the three sleeping figures at the edge of the clearing. "Were all over it, but I didn't have any. Since you were talking to Jeb, I'm guessing you didn't have any either."

I shook my head slowly, processing this information. I guess it made sense, but only in the logical sense of the words. I could see absolutely no reason why Jeb or his housekeeper would want to knock us out. "What do you think they'd gain from it?"

Fang shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe Jeb had plans for us. He did seem awfully reluctant to let you leave."

"You're right," I replied. I thought that had seemed a little off. "But I guess we don't get to find out what those plans were."

"Or if he even had any," Fang said. "We could be way off here. We don't even know that that's what conked them out."

This was too much. I had never really trusted Jeb–not since I'd found him back at the School when we'd gone to rescue Angel–but I didn't think he'd have any reason to want to hurt us anymore. Plus, he'd said he was on our side. Granted, I hadn't thought that meant much, but this was just proving how little we really could trust him. Sighing, I went over and sat down at the base of a tree. Fang followed suite, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

I looked at him, puzzled. "What for? None of this is your fault."

He shrugged. "No, but it always seems like all of this stuff gets dumped on you, and I feel bad. I wish I could take more of the responsibilities around here."

I smiled. "You do. You're the reason I can handle it all. You're always there, solid, keeping me grounded. I couldn't deal with any of it without you."

He looked down at me, his eyes full of admiration. "Have you ever considered being a writer? You really have a way with words."

"Well, maybe if I had the time," I replied, grinning. "You know, in between saving the world and kicking Jeb's ass into next week."

"We still don't _know_ that it's his fault," Fang reminded me. "For all we know, it was a random stroke of drowsiness that came out of the sky."

I looked at him disbelievingly. "Sure it was. And I'm a yellow huffalump."

Fang actually started laughing at that. "You're very strange sometimes, Maximum."

I scowled. "What is it with people and their need to use my whole name, anyway? It's always 'Maximum' this and 'Maximum' that. Isn't 'Max' enough?"

"I thought you liked your name," he said. "You picked it yourself."

"Yeah," I replied. "But when people use the whole thing, it almost seems like they're expecting me to live up to it, to be the maximum. And I don't much care for the pressure."

Fang shook his head. "It's not pressure, Max. Have you ever thought that maybe they're telling you that you already are the maximum? Who says it has to be a challenge?"

"Well, how did _you_ mean it?" I challenged. I'm not really sure what prompted me to ask the question, but once it was out of my mouth I kind of wanted to know the answer. It annoyed me when the Voice or Jeb used my whole name, but if Fang started doing it…I don't know. I think it would honestly make me feel worse than when they did it. It seemed somehow like betrayal, which was ridiculous, of course. Still…

Fang looked at me for a minute, seeming to gauge my reasoning behind asking the question. "I didn't," he finally replied. "Your name is Maximum, I called you Maximum. There was no meaning behind it. But your name does fit you, just for the record. You are the maximum. The maximum girl, the maximum person, the maximum girlfriend…" He trailed off, looking hesitant. "_Are_ you my girlfriend?"

I shrugged. "I guess so. I'm not _not_ your girlfriend."

He looked relieved. "That's good. I was a little worried I'd crossed some horrible line there."

I looked up at him, staring into his eyes. "No lines," I told him. "I'm okay with all of this now. I'm not going to flee into the night anymore."

"Okay," he said, smiling. "Can I kiss you then?"

I nodded. "Please do."

Leaning down, he did just that, slowly transporting me from a clearing in the forests of Oregon to a place that made worries disappear and everything seem so much better. You really should be able to bottle this kind of thing. You'd be able to make millions.

* * *

It was nearly an hour later when the other three started waking up. Iggy was the first one fully alert, which I thought was kind of odd, considering that he fell asleep last. Nudge and Gazzy followed, and pretty soon we were all back up in the air again, heading for Virginia. We were a little behind schedule now, but I figured we could still make it there before nightfall.

A few hours after we'd left Oregon, Iggy flew up to me.

"Do you think she's okay?" Iggy asked quietly…well, as quietly as you can talk and still hear each other over the rushing wind. I knew he was talking about Tess. I also knew he was probably really worried.

"She said she was, didn't she?" I replied. "Was there any reason to for her to lie to you?"

"No," Iggy said. "But that's not what I was talking about. What if they've been attacked again? Or what if something else happened?"

"Iggy," I said gently. "You're worrying too much. I'm sure she's fine, and I'm sure you'll see her in a couple hours. It's going to be fine."

Iggy nodded, looking like he was trying to reassure himself. "Right. She's fine. I'm sure she's fine." He swooped away again, and I could hear him muttering to himself "She's fine" over and over again. I hoped I was right, for his sake.

* * *

**A/N: Well…I actually don't have anything to say here. Hm…Review, I guess. =)**


	28. Back In Virginia

**A/N: My sincerest apologies. It has been far too long since I posted the last chapter. I'm afraid that this may be happening rather often, though. My household runs solely off of solar power, so the winter's short, overcast days make computer and Internet usage rather scarce. I'll try to post as frequently as possible, though. Please bear with me, oh loyal readers. I do not mean to spite you. =P**

* * *

**Chapter 28: Back In Virginia**

Angel's POV

Angel stood on a hill, overlooking a certain school in Virginia. She didn't know why her Voice had wanted her to attack it, but she didn't question it. She just did as she was told. It was completely her idea to use parrots, though. She was very fond of Firewing, and she manifested the army of parrots as a tribute to him. They seemed effective enough, too. She managed to chase all of the people out of the school without inflicting too much damage.

_**You did excellently, Angel.**_

She felt a surge of pride at that. _Really?_

_**Really. I'm very pleased with your performance. This is all going exactly according to plan.**_

_What plan?_ she asked curiously. _Why did you want those people chased out of the school, anyway?_

_**It's not about them being chased out of the school. It's about the panic. People need to know that something is coming. A little bit of chaos must be made to make people scared.**_

_Why do people need to be scared?_

_**It's a way to control people. You make people scared, and then you give them a solution. That will make them follow you. Do you understand?**_

Angel thought about that for a little while. Her Voice said they were going to take control of the United States. And then it said that to do that, they needed to spread fear. Then, she guessed, she and her helpful little Voice would step in with a way to protect the people. The more she thought about it, the more she realized just how smart her Voice was. Nothing was going to stand in their way.

* * *

Minerva's POV (Oooooohhhh…)

"Do stop pacing," Minerva told Jeb. "You'll wear a hole in the carpet."

Jeb didn't stop pacing. He just glared at her and continued his methodical walking.

She sighed and shook her head. He had been doing this for a couple of hours now, ever since the children had left. She guessed that he was brooding over it. He had told her a bit of his plan, which included them staying long enough for the drug to take effect. If Max's flock was incapacitated, she would have no choice but to stay. Unfortunately, it hadn't worked.

"What exactly are you so upset about?" Minerva asked.

Jeb stopped pacing and turned to stare at her. "You should know the answer to that! They left. My plan failed. And now I'm afraid I've put them in grave danger."

Minerva cocked her head. "Why is that?"

"The four who were fed the drug are going to be falling asleep," Jeb said. "And while flying, that could have disastrous consequences."

"Three," Minerva corrected him. "Only three of the children ate the drugged food."

Jeb frowned. "Three? But you had four of them in the kitchen."

Minerva shrugged. "Yes, I did, but one of them refused the food. The tall, dark one. He didn't sit down, either. He seemed rather on edge."

Jeb closed his eyes, exhaling heavily. "Fang. I should've known he'd value keeping watch more than eating cake." He opened his eyes and shook his head. "It doesn't matter, though. Now that they're gone, none of it matters. And I can't get Max now."

"I still don't think I quite understand," Minerva said slowly. "Why do you need Max so much? You don't plan to turn her over to Itex, do you?"

Minerva knew about Itex. She thought it was a despicable operation. Experimenting on innocent children? Trying to kill half of the people in the world? No good could possibly come of it.

"No," Jeb replied. "Most definitely not. Itex is pretty much gone, anyway. Max and her flock saw to that. No," he repeated. "What I need Max for is purely my own purposes. Her and her Voice. Together, they can make my Voice healthy again. They can heal its energy, and give me back my information source. That's why I need Max."

* * *

Max's POV

Well, we'd finally arrived. We were at the school in Virginia that we'd attended so very briefly. Unfortunately, we were the only ones there. No one else was anywhere in sight.

I frowned. "Where do you think everyone went?"

"I don't know," Fang said, looking around. "Should we go in?"

I shrugged. "I guess. Maybe we'll get some clues."

The five of us headed into the school. The doors were unlocked, and inside, the halls and rooms were a mess. There were colorful feathers everywhere, along with the occasional bits of bird droppings. Books were open on desks. Computers were on. It seriously looked like people had just fled in terror.

"There must have been a _whole_ lot of parrots," Nudge commented.

"Yeah…" I looked around, taking in the damage. "We should try to find Tess." A thought struck me. "Hey, Ig, can you call her? Ask her where she is?"

Iggy nodded and pulled the TracFone out of his pocket. He pressed a few buttons, then held it to his ear. After a few seconds, I heard a faint voice on the other end, and Iggy replied, "Yeah, it's me. We're at your school. Where are you?"

We waited, hearing the faint murmur of Tess's voice on the other end of the line. Finally, Iggy nodded, replied, "We'll be right there", and pressed the red button to end the call. "She's hiding in the park gazebo. The parrots are all over town, apparently."

Gazzy's eyes widened. "All over town? _Parrots_? Attacking people?"

Iggy nodded, then turned to me. "We have to go get her."

"Sure looks that way," I agreed. "Let's go."

We jumped into the air, rising up until we could see the rest of the town. I saw the big splotch of green in the center of town that I assumed was the park. I also saw a few spots that were completely overrun by parrots. The colorful clouds were congregated mostly over by what appeared to be the fire department, which was quite far away from the park. Lucky us; we got to avoid the dangerous swarms of colorful feathers.

We descended quickly toward the park, landing gracefully a little bit outside of it. Score one for the elegant bird-kids. We walked into the park like normal people (snicker). As soon as we entered, there was a whoop of joy and a tall blond came racing across the park. She skidded to a halt in front of us.

"Oh, thank God you guys are here!" she said. "The whole town's gone crazy! And the parrots…" She trailed off and shuddered. "I don't know how they did it, but someone sure spent a lot of time training them to attack people."

"But you're okay?" Iggy asked, concern etched all over his face. "You didn't get hurt?"

Tess smiled, evidently pleased that Iggy was worried. "No. I'm fine. They didn't come after the single people. They went for the groups that ran off screaming."

"Well," I said. "Looks like you did the smart thing, then. If I could ask, though, why did you call us?"

Tess shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "I don't know. I guess you seemed like the type of people who could handle it."

I laughed sardonically. "Yeah, you're probably right about that."

Iggy looked at me, and even blind, his gaze was pleading. "Max?" he said, and I could hear the question in his voice. He wanted to tell Tess about us, and I could tell he wanted it bad. I guess I could understand that, but I didn't know if we should let her in on it. She seemed trustworthy enough, but that didn't really mean a whole lot.

I sighed, and motioned for Fang and Iggy to follow me. "We'll be right back."

We walked far enough away that Tess wouldn't be able to hear us, then stopped. Fang looked at me, his gaze quizzical.

"Iggy wants to tell Tess," I said. "Right Iggy?"

Iggy nodded. "Please? I don't want to have to keep lying and avoiding questions around her. And I kind of want to take her with us." The last but he said quieter, like he was afraid I would explode at him.

I almost did, actually. "You want to _what_?" I exclaimed. "You can't just take her away from her life! She has a normal life that we'll never get, and you want to take that away from her? Besides, she actually has parents that will worry if she doesn't come home. No, Iggy, definitely not." I shook my head to emphasize my point, which, with Iggy, obviously didn't do much.

Iggy bit his lip, his expression worried. "I know all that Max, but it's not safe here. There are _parrots_ attacking the town. Leaving her here is a bad idea. I can feel it."

I raised my eyebrows at his last comment. "You can feel it?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. Instinct, intuition, whatever. I just know it's a bad idea to leave here behind when we leave."

"And just how do you plan to carry her?" I asked. "We're not walking just so we can bring her along."

"We could take a car," Fang suggested. "We've done it before."

"Yeah, and we got pulled over," I reminded him. "We're both still underage, and we don't have licenses. Not to mention that it would still be way slower than flying. That just seems like a really bad idea."

"I could carry her," Iggy said.

"For how long? She's not bird-kid-light. It would be a huge impact on your energy. I don't like that idea either."

"I'm not leaving her behind, Max." Iggy's voice was now both frustrated and determined. "Even if Fang didn't have wings, would you leave him behind?"

Fang's eyebrows rose at Iggy's analogy, and he shot me a look, as if daring me to say 'sure I would'. I scowled. I couldn't very well say 'but that's different', either. It wasn't, really.

I guess I just had to realize that Iggy had won.

"Fine," I said resignedly. "We can take her, but _only _if she wants to go. There's every chance she wants to stay with her parents. And I guess that means you can tell her about us."

Iggy's face split into a huge grin, and he scooped me up in a bear hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Max."

"You're welcome," I gasped. "Now let me go. I can't breathe."

He complied, then jogged back to where Tess, Nudge, and Gazzy were standing. Fang and I made our way over, slightly slower.

"I think you made him happy," Fang said. "You probably made a good choice, there."

I smiled slightly. "Yeah, I guess I did."

When we got back to the group, Tess was looking disappointedly between me and Iggy. I was confused for a moment, but Tess quickly cleared it up.

"So…you and Max?" she asked Iggy sadly, probably referring to the bone-crushing hug he gave me.

I stared at her, horrified. Yeah, Ig's great and all, but he's my _brother_. Kind of. Well, I guess he's as much my brother as Fang is, but still…creepy thought.

Iggy, on the other hand, just laughed. "Definitely not. She's Fang's. He'd kill me if I went anywhere near her."

Tess's expression was visibly relieved. "Oh. That's good." She blushed. "I mean…not him killing you, obviously, just…um…" She trailed off, looking embarrassed. "Never mind."

Iggy was grinning widely. "It's okay. I get it."

"As cute as this little scene is," I interrupted. "We need to get moving. Iggy, now or never."

"Right." He took a deep breath. "Tess, there's something you need to know."

* * *

**A/N: Again, sorry about the long wait. I hope you can all forgive me. **

**Review, please! =)**


	29. Rudely Interrupted

**A/N: So...here's the first Angelic Tyranny chapter of 2010! Happy New Year!**

**

* * *

Chapter 29: Rudely Interrupted**

Max's POV

We watched as Iggy paused, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to tell Tess. I guessed that it wasn't easy for him, especially not knowing what her reaction would be. For all we knew she was going to freak out and want nothing else to do with us. I didn't even want to know what that would do to Iggy.

After about a minute, Iggy finally took a deep breath and opened his mouth to break the news to Tess. "Okay, Tess, what you need to–"

He never got to finish his sentence. Or his explanation, for that matter. Just then, a pegasus landed only ten feet away from us, kicking up clods of dirt.

I know, it sounds utterly insane. I was certain I was hallucinating, but that was quickly dispelled when Angel jumped off of its back.

"Hello, Max," she said.

I looked at her, then I looked over at Fang. He was glaring at Angel, murder in his eyes. Then he moved closer to me and took my hand. For once, I really didn't care that the whole flock could see. I needed the comfort.

Angel walked over to where we were standing. "Aren't you going to say hello back?" She held out her arm, and a colorful parrot came down and landed on it. Then she looked back at us. "Firewing thinks you should say hello. Don't you, Firewing?"

_Squawk!_ "Say hello!" _Squawk!_

Oh, dear God. Was Angel mind-controlling the parrot or something? And how the hell did she get a pegasus? They didn't exist!

"Language, Max!" Angel reprimanded sternly. "And they don't have to exist."

Huh?

I'm sure Angel picked up on my mental confusion, but she didn't respond to it. Instead, her head whipped around to stare at Tess.

"I know it's strange," she said sweetly. "And don't worry, Iggy thinks you're wonderful. He won't ditch you like your last boyfriend did."

Oh, no. I watched as Tess's face slowly drained of its color. Iggy had whipped around and was doing his best, and startling effective, blind glare directly at Angel.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Angel said, her smile sweet enough to give teeth instant cavities. "You hadn't told her yet, had you?"

Tears stung my eyes. How had Angel become such a little monster? Was it my fault? I had always considered myself her surrogate mother, so did that make her awfulness my responsibility?

"Only if you want to think so," Angel said. "But then, your mothering skills were _severely _lacking, weren't they? It's no wonder I turned out like I did."

Fang actually growled, and his grip on my hand became suddenly tighter.

Angel turned to face him, smiling. "Oh, you can call me all the names you want, Fang. I am _way_ above you guys, and you all know it. Would you like to know about my new power?" She turned so that she was facing everyone. "It's really kind of extraordinary. My Voice told me about it. I can _manifest_ stuff. Make it real just by thinking about it. Isn't that cool? I'll show you."

Her eyebrows furrowed as she concentrated, and slowly a small dragon came into being next to her pegasus. And when I say 'small', I mean the size of a horse. As soon as it was solid, it flexed its neck and let out a small jet of flame, catching one of the trees on fire.

"Isn't it just amazing?" Angel asked us, not seeming to care about the tree that had become a huge torch. "Anything is possible now. I can create _anything_."

"You're insane!" Nudge yelled, and I could see the wetness in her eyes. "You're not even Angel anymore! You're some creepy, power-crazy maniac that took over her body. Angel was a good person. She was my friend. You're just the nasty, horrible creature that killed her, and I hate you for it! Do you hear me? I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" She fell to her knees, tears pouring down her cheeks.

I hadn't realized how hard this had hit Nudge. Gazzy had been devastated, sure, but Nudge had just pretended that she didn't care about Angel. Seeing her break down like this…It made me see just how much we'd all been torn up by this. It made me feel empty inside, like my chest was hollow and my heart was just…gone. How could we be a flock when we were all so broken? Could we manage to hold each other together? If we could, we sure weren't proving it very well.

There was a long silence after Nudge's outburst. Surprisingly, Angel didn't say anything. The look on her face was conflicted, and it was the most emotion I'd seen out of her since she left. Was she actually hurt by Nudge's words? Was it possible that there was a little bit of the Angel we all loved inside of that demon that was currently standing in front of us? I wasn't sure I dared hope.

Iggy was the first to speak. "If you want something, Angel, tell us. If not, leave us alone. I don't think any of us can deal with this right now."

Angel's expression of almost-pain vanished, and she said, "I didn't want anything. I just thought I'd show you what I can do." Then she turned around and walked back over to her mount. Moments later, she was gone, along with her parrot and her newly created dragon, the burning tree the only reminder that she'd ever been there at all.

* * *

Tess's POV

Tess was confused. No, that didn't really cover it; Tess was bewildered, intrigued, in way over her head, and a little hurt. What was going on? Didn't they think she had a right to know?

But no one was explaining. Max and Nick–no, wait, Fang–were still just standing where they had been, staring after the little girl that had come and then gone. Iggy was standing a few feet away from them, his head hung low, looking crushed. Tiffany-Krystal–unless she had a nickname too–was still on her knees, crying, and Zephyr was kneeling next to her, apparently trying to comfort her. Whoever this Angel person was, she obviously had a profound effect on these guys.

And what was with the pegasus? And the dragon? Especially the dragon. Things didn't just _appear_, especially things that weren't supposed to exist. It was unnatural.

Finally, she got desperate. "Okay, I know you guys are all depressed and stuff, and I don't mean to be rude, but what the _hell_ was that?"

Iggy raised his head. "Sorry, Tess. You're probably confused, aren't you?"

"Gee, you think?" she said impatiently. "Something really weird is going on here, and it's kind of obvious that you know more than I do, so I would appreciate it if you would explain things a little."

"I'll start with what I was going to tell you before Angel got here," Iggy said. "We're not normal, Tess. In fact, we're about as far from normal as you can get."

Tess wanted to say "Nobody's normal these days" or something equally snarky, but the strange things that she had just witnessed stopped her. Obviously something very far from normal was going on here. So she just decided to let Iggy finish whatever he was going to say.

"When we were younger," he continued. "We were experimented on in a place called the School. It was highly unpleasant–"

"Major understatement, there, Ig," Fang interjected. "It was hell."

Tess shivered, though she wasn't completely sure why. They hadn't given her enough details yet for her to even really know anything about this…School. But for some reason, she suddenly felt unsettled.

"Yeah," Iggy agreed. "It was hell. They kept us in cages, making us do things so they could monitor us. Finally, about five years ago, one of the scientists who was working on us broke us out and brought us to live in a house in the Colorado Mountains. We ended up with some…souvenirs, though. My blindness, for one." He pointed to his eyes, rather unnecessarily. "And these." And that was when Tess's mind got blown.

From Iggy's back sprouted two large, tan wings. They looked like they were about fifteen feet from tip to tip.

Tess gasped. "You…you have…_wings_," she breathed. "Wow…"

Iggy nodded, looking a bit anxious. Did he think she was going to shun him for it? "Yeah. That's our big secret. All six of us have them; me, Max, Fang, Nudge, Gazzy, and…and Angel." His voice got quieter on the last name.

"Angel was that girl that just came, right?" Tess asked. Iggy nodded in confirmation, and Tess continued. "So, she's like you? Was she with you guys?"

"Yes." This time it was Max who answered. "'Was' being the key word there. She left a couple weeks ago. She seems to think she's too good to be part of the flock."

Tess cocked her head. "Flock?"

"It's what we call ourselves," Iggy told her. "The flock. Like birds, you know?"

She managed a small smile. "Ah. Clever."

He shrugged. "Or completely unimaginative. Take your pick."

"So, to summarize," Tess said. "You guys all have wings because someplace called the School experimented on you when you were little, before you escaped." She paused. "That all?"

"Basically," Iggy said.

"So you guys don't have any parents?"

"Max does," he said. "She found her mom and sister. I found mine in D.C. last year, but they wanted to sell my story to the media. I ditched them."

"Oh." Tess wasn't really sure what to say to that. "I'm sorry."

Iggy waved his hand, dismissing her condolences. "Don't be. I like it better with the flock anyway."

"How come Max doesn't live with her parents?" Tess asked. "You said she found them, right?"

"Yeah, I did," Max said. "But they get that I can't live with them. It would put them in danger, since we're always on the run from stuff."

"Oh," Tess said again. "Wow. This is a lot to take in."

"I know," Iggy said sympathetically. "I'm sorry you even got brought into this. You'd have been safer if you'd never known."

"Maybe." Tess shrugged. "But I don't really care." She paused, then asked, "Will you guys take me with you? Please?"

Iggy raised his eyebrows. "You _want_ to come?"

Tess nodded emphatically. "I would _love_ to. It sounds so exciting! And…" She trailed off, blushing. She'd been about to say, "And you'd be there". "Well, the point is, yes, if you can take me, I want to come."

"I think we can manage," Iggy said. "But what about your parents? Won't they be worried?"

Tess's face grew dark. "No." She paused for a minute, then said, "I'm an orphan."

* * *

**A/N: Gasp! I bet you guys weren't expecting that! I do so love playing with characters' back stories. =D**

**And I hope no one dislikes the wing color I picked for Iggy. It never actually says in the books, so I had to make it up. Hope it works for you guys.**


	30. Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig

**A/N: So, here I am, updating in a relatively timely fashion. Aren't I amazing? **

…**No, I don't think so either.**

**Anyway, I stayed up until quarter of two writing this in order to finish in time to post it during my one sure chance on the Internet. You people had better appreciate it!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy-Jig**

Max's POV

So, needless to say, we took Tess with us. Iggy seemed to enjoy carrying her, though it did slow us down a little. I didn't mind. It made him happy.

Okay, that's not completely true. I minded a little. For some reason, I really wanted to get back to Arizona. I wasn't even sure why we were going back there. I mean, obviously we needed to do something about Angel, and going back to my mom's place wasn't exactly helping that. Still, something was urging me back, some instinct or something. Or maybe it was just the desperate longing to see my actual blood family again to try to find some comfort in the madness that was my life. Fang was certainly helping that, but even he couldn't do it all. I needed a hug from Ella and a plate of chocolate chip cookies from my mom. Then I would make a plan to stop Angel from destroying the world.

* * *

Fang's POV

We touched down in the Martinez's yard in mid-afternoon the next day. We were immediately greeted by many hugs from Ella, which I managed to skillfully avoid.

"You're back!" Ella squealed. "Did you learn anything useful?"

"Yup," Max said. "Lots of stuff. I'll fill you in later."

"Okay," Ella said. Then she paused, noticing Tess. "Who's she?"

Iggy stepped forward. "This is Tess. She was in my class when we went to school in Virginia, and I met back up with her in Washington a few days ago." He explained everything that had happened, up until yesterday morning with Angel. "So we brought her with us. She can stay here too, right?"

"Sure," Ella replied. "It's nice to meet you, Tess."

Tess smiled. "You too."

"Where's Mom?" Max asked Ella. "She is here, isn't she?"

Ella nodded. "She's inside." Eyes glittering, she added, "I believe she just started a batch of cookies."

Max's eyes lit up. "Awesome."

I shook my head in amusement. Max was a strange girl, all right.

* * *

After dinner, as the rest of the flock and its extras were heading into the living room to watch a movie, I pulled Max aside.

"We need to go after Angel," I said, not wasting any time getting to the point.

Max sighed. "You don't think I know that? Of course we do. We can't let her keep this up." She ran a hand through her hair, nicely completing the 'stressed' look. "But I don't know what to do, Fang. I guess I never told you guys, but Jeb told me a lot about Angel's Voice. He said it was controlling her, and he said the only sure way he knew to get rid of it was to kill her."

She looked so defeated when she said that, I just had to do something. So I put my arms around her, holding her close. "It's okay, Max. There's no way either of us are doing that, no matter how horrible she's been. We'll find another way."

"Will we?" She sounded muffled, as her face was buried in my chest. "Jeb did say something about a Voice suppressant, but we'd have to knock Angel out and inject her with stuff, which wouldn't exactly be easy. Not to mention it doesn't actually get rid of the Voice, so you have to inject it monthly or the Voice comes back. I just don't see a good solution to this."

"But there is one out there," I said. "And we'll find it." I went to release her, but she wrapped her arms around my waist, stopping me.

"Don't," she said quietly. "It's helping."

I smiled. "Okay."

We stood like that for a while, neither of us wanting to move. Eventually we did, though, when Tess came out of the living room and saw us.

"Oh," she said, stopping in her tracks. "Sorry." But she was grinning widely, and I guessed she was enjoying the evidence that Max and Iggy were most definitely not anything near an item. "I'll just be going now." She turned and tactfully went back into the living room.

Max groaned, her cheeks flaming in embarrassment. "Can't people learn to knock?"

"Max, we're standing in the hallway," I said, holding back a laugh. Max was highly entertaining when she was embarrassed. "It's not exactly private."

She didn't reply to that.

* * *

Max's POV

We spent the next day doing a lot of nothing. I knew it wasn't productive, and I knew I really should be coming up with a plan or thinking things over, but just sitting with the flock and my family, and Tess, was really, really nice. We played games, we talked, we ate loads of junk food…It was just what I needed to relax a bit.

"BS!" Tess exclaimed joyfully. "Definitely BS!"

Iggy groaned and scooped up the pile of cards in the middle of the coffee table. "But I was so close to going out…"

Tess smiled innocently. "Exactly."

"You cruel, cruel woman," Iggy declared dramatically, a hand over his heart. "Why must you torture me so?"

Everyone in the room was grinning widely at the display, even Fang. Iggy was such a ham, and Tess was obviously enjoying bantering with him. Truthfully, it reminded me of Fang and myself, and our little bits of wordplay. Hm…

"Okay, you two," my mom finally said, interrupting the scene. "Max's turn."

I frowned, looking down at my cards. Apparently I was threes. Drat. I was going to have to bluff and hope for the best.

"Two threes," I announced, throwing a one and a six onto the coffee table.

Before Ella could go, and save me from any chance of someone BSing me, Fang turned to face me from where he was sitting next to me.

"BS," he stated solemnly, then poked my nose. "You can't lie to me."

I scowled, grabbing my two cards back up off the table. Unfortunately for me, Fang was right. He could read me way to easily for me to get anywhere in this game while he was playing.

"You're intolerable," I told him sourly.

He just shrugged, then casually draped an arm over my shoulders. "Maybe."

My mom was watching us with a small smile on her face. When I caught her eye, she grinned and winked at me. Trying not to blush, and failing, I turned back to the card game.

"Your turn, Ella."

She nodded and looked down at her hand of cards. Sadly, we never got to find out if she had any fours, as the doorbell decided to interrupt our game. Looking puzzled, my mom got up to go answer it.

"I wonder who it is," Nudge said. "Ooh! Maybe it's pizza delivery! Did anyone order pizza? That'd be awesome. Wouldn't it be cool if it was, like, an accidental delivery? I heard a story about that once. They, like, delivered the pizza to the wrong house, and the people got to keep the pizza! Like, the pizza lottery or something. Do you think we should buy a lottery ticket? It'd be awesome if we won the lottery. We could buy a huge house with a swimming pool. I've always wanted a swimmi–"

Gazzy elbowed Nudge in the ribs and she stopped talking, looking apologetic.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'm afraid you did."

After a couple minutes, my mom showed back up in the doorway to the living room. She had a strange expression on her face, and I couldn't figure it out.

"Max," she said. "You may want to come out here."

Oh. That didn't exactly sound pleasant. In fact, it sounded rather ominous. Still, I didn't figure that my mom would tell me to do anything that might get me hurt, so I stood up and followed her out into the hall. I was only vaguely surprised when Fang followed me. He liked keeping an eye on things. Well, an eye on me, anyway.

I nearly fell over in shock when I saw who was standing by the front door. It was Jeb.

"What do _you_ want?" I asked, my voice slightly more accusing than I meant it to be. I guess I was still sore over the drugging of my flock, despite the fact that we didn't actually know that it was Jeb's fault. I kind of figured he had enough evidence pointing his direction for me to be a little angry.

"I see you're not wonderfully pleased to see me, Maximum." So much for the request about the name.

"Can't really say I am," I replied tersely. "And you haven't answered me. What are you doing here?"

"Well," he said. "I believe I may have found an alternative method of evicting Angel's Voice from her consciousness."

It took me a minute to figure his sentence out. Couldn't he have used smaller words? When I finally got what he meant, though, relief flooded through me.

Maybe Angel wasn't as lost as I'd thought.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter ended up a tad shorter than my recently enforced goal of two thousand words per chapter, but it was a good place to end and I didn't want to stay up any later than I already had. Sorry.**

**P.S. Okay, I just barely looked at my reviews, and guess what? It's hit two hundred! Yay! (does happy dance) Thank you guys! You're all wonderful reviewers. =DDDD  
**


	31. A Problem and a Solution

**A/N: I am really, really sorry that it's taken me so long to update. No, the excuse is not something exciting like "I had to have open-heart surgery" or "I went on vacation and the return flight was delayed by a week and half" (Do you think that could happen?). I'm afraid that my only excuse is a horrible, horrible case of writer's block. Seriously, I'd open the document, stare at it a while, and then end up going and writing a four thousand word oneshot. (I did, actually. Anyone here read A Punch In The Nose And A Shock To The Heart? I posted it Wednesday.) But, finally, I found my inspiration and finished this lovely chapter for you wonderful readers.**

**So, here is the long-awaited (I hope) Chapter Thirty-One!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-One: A Problem and a Solution**

Max's POV

We all settled down in the living room, since it had plenty of seats and the rest of the flock was already there. Jeb had apparently given up on trying to talk to me alone, because he wasn't complaining about the flock being present.

"Okay, Maximum," he began. "I have information that you need."

Oh, no. His voice sounded full of implications. He wasn't going to insist on some sort of payment for this, was he? I mean, how twisted could you get?

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm pretty sure that fact was already made quite clear. Now comes the part where you actually _give_ us the information."

Jeb sighed. "I don't know if I can do that. You see, there's something that I need, and this is the only thing I have to trade for it."

"So you're holding the information ransom?" Fang asked, his impassive expression letting through just the slightest bit of irritation.

Jeb shook his head. "No. I'm just asking that in return for me giving you what you need, you give me a certain…favor."

My mom stepped up. "Jeb, this is ridiculous. You know as well as I do that Angel needs to be stopped. You also know how much Max and her flock need this information. Why are you doing this?"

"Because, Valencia," Jeb snapped. "It needs to be done."

"Are you sure that 'need' is the word you should be using there?" my mom asked him. "This sounds an awful lot like one of your power-hungry schemes."

Jeb smiled sadly. "I'm sorry that you can't think better of me, Valencia. I've never been against you. Why do you always assume the worst of me?"

"Because, _Jeb_," I interrupted. "It needs to be done." I saw the flicker of annoyance flash across Jeb's face as I threw his own words back at him, and I allowed myself a tiny moment of self-congratulations. "I don't care if it was for our own good in the long run, you still betrayed us more than once. And I'm most certainly not going to forget this most recent time, where you _drugged my flock_. They could have _died_!"

Any misgivings I might have had about confronting Jeb on that flew out the window when I saw Jeb's reaction. First it was surprised guilt, then guilty resignation. He had _definitely_ done it.

"I'm afraid that was necessary, Maximum," he said. "Unfortunately, it didn't quite turn out as I had planned. I never meant to hurt them."

"Sure," I scoffed. "How exactly did you not mean to hurt them?"

"You were supposed to stay with me longer," he explained. "They were supposed to fall unconscious while you were still on the ground. Them falling out of the air was most certainly not intended."

"Oh, good," Gazzy said. "Because I wouldn't have wanted to nearly die on purpose. Much better to nearly die on accident."

I nearly beamed with pride. My flock was such a wonderfully snarky bunch. Not afraid to stand up to anybody or anything. I'd led them well.

Jeb frowned disapprovingly at Gazzy, as if trying to say "Respect your elders, lad". I have one word for that: Ha.

"I like his point," my mom said. "It doesn't really matter if you meant to put them in danger or not. The point is, you did. I think you owe them one, without making them pay for it. What do you think?"

Of course, Jeb had to be a complete butthead. "I think that I'm the one with the information, therefore I'm the one who will be making the demands."

Everyone in the room immediately became somewhere from annoyed to furious at Jeb. He sounded so much like one of those stereotypical bad guys that I was forced to wonder, yet again, whose side he was really on.

Unfortunately, he was right. He _was _the one with the bargaining chip, which pretty much meant we had to do whatever he wanted. I suddenly wished he had come with papers or some other information storing device so that we could just knock him out and steal it. It was hard to steal stuff out of someone's head, though.

"Fine," I said, making sure my tone left no doubts about the fact that I wasn't happy with the situation. "What exactly is it you want so much?"

Relief spread across Jeb's face. "Wonderful. You've made a good choice here, Maximum." Yeah, he was just recycling lines, wasn't he? Did the guy have absolutely no imagination?

"That's nice," I said. "What's the favor you want?"

I could tell that my uncooperative attitude was wearing on Jeb, and I have to say that it made me just the tiniest bit satisfied. He wants to be a jerk, I'll be unpleasant right back and he can deal with it. I felt the childish need to stick out my tongue and go, "So there!", but I repressed it. I didn't really think it would help the situation.

"Well," Jeb began, obviously realizing that I wanted to get right to the point. "My Voice needs to be healed, and you're the only person who can do it."

Okay, back up; his _Voice_ needs to be healed? I didn't even know it was possible for them to get sick or hurt or whatever. I'm pretty sure I had a complete "WTH?" expression on my face, because Jeb continued.

"You see, my Voice's wavelength is very rare, as I explained earlier. Because of that, it doesn't get much contact with other Voices. Apparently, they need relatively frequent contact with their own kind in order to stay whole and healthy. I believe it's rather similar to the way flowers and trees need pollination from other plants. That's beside the point though. The point is that my Voice is…well, it's dying." He rubbed his temples like he had a headache, and I wondered if his unhealthy Voice was causing him pain. "Your Voice is strong, which means that your mind must be as well if it chose to inhabit you. I believe that you two together could force contact with my Voice and heal it." He looked up at me. "That's the favor that I'm asking you."

Wow. That was some favor he wanted. I figured that if it would be a team effort, I should probably consult my teammate.

_Hey, Voice. What do you think about this?_

_**It bothers me to know that one of my kind is in pain. I would like to help, if we can.**_

_Do you have any experience with this kind of thing?_

_**Only the experience of forcing my way into your mind. I believe it may be a similar procedure.**_

I gulped. _That hurt. A lot._

_**I know.**_

Oh. Great.

_**It will most likely be painful. I still think we should attempt it. Just think about the time you saved Ella from those bullies. That's how I feel about this matter.**_

_Well, when you put it like that…_

I took a deep breath. "Okay, my Voice and I had a little pow-wow, and we've decided to try it."

Jeb smiled. "Thank you, Maximum. Your Voice as well."

I didn't reply to that. Instead, I just asked, "Are you going to give us the info now or after?"

"I believe that I'll take your word that you'll help me," he replied. "And give you the information now. I just ask that you don't respond too violently to the information and go rushing off to implement it before you try to heal my Voice."

"If there's one thing I don't do," I said. "It's break my promises. I'll help you no matter what."

"Okay," he said. "What I discovered is that there is another, rather less unpleasant way to remove Angel's Voice. It seems that she herself can banish it, if she has the will to. You just need to appeal to what is left of Angel's consciousness, and get her to free her own mind. It may be hard on her part, but if she wants it enough, she can make it impossible, or at least extremely uncomfortable, for her Voice to stay there."

I suddenly felt rather light-headed. Part of me was saying that this sounded too good to be true, and another part was saying that it sounded impossible, especially with how Angel had been acting recently. I was finding it hard to figure out how I felt about the new information.

"How are we supposed to make Angel listen to us?" Fang asked, apparently thinking along the same lines I was. "She hasn't been, lately."

Jeb shrugged sadly. "I don't know. You'll have to figure that out for yourselves. I just told you what I learned. You need to decide how to apply it." He turned to me. "Whenever you're ready, I'd like to attempt to heal my Voice."

I nodded. "Just give me a few minutes to figure out how." I paused, then added, "You do know it's going to hurt, right? A lot?"

"Yes," Jeb said. "Minds are fragile. They don't take well to invasion."

Fang turned to me, his eyes worried. "What about you?"

I shrugged. "I dealt with it when my Voice invaded my brain, didn't I?"

"Barely," he reminded me quietly. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Can, yes," I replied. "And that's all that matters, right?" When he looked like he was going to protest some more, I added, "I'll survive, Fang. I said I'd try, so I'm going to try. End of story."

He stopped arguing. He knew better than anyone that when I set my mind to something, I did it, and no one could stop me. Not even him.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, peoples, I am now going to have a wonderful, US citizen rant.**

**The Brits got FANG yesterday. I don't know why they got it first, since JP is an AMERICAN CITIZEN, but they did. Now, this irritates me, but normally I wouldn't mind TOO much. Unfortunately, something has happened to make me mind more: Someone has posted how it ends on FF. !?!?!??!?! I didn't read it, since I really, really hate spoilers, but the summary had just enough in it to make me wish I could erase my own memory. Why would someone do that to those who have yet to read it? I'm currently caught between yelling, punching something, and crying. I DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW!!! So, yeah...I'm upset. And I wanted to rant to someone. So I did it here. I'm still upset, but now I feel I've sufficiently passed on my righteous anger to any other Americans reading this.**

**Um...review?  
**


	32. The Voice of Healing

**A/N: I'm sorry guys. I meant to post this about a week ago, but I kept encountering issues, such as the Wi-Fi being turned off right as I was about to post it. Oh yeah, and I turned fifteen, so I was a little busy. Yay, me! I can now officially get my driving permit...scary...**

**So anyway, here's the chapter. Happy reading. =)  
**

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**Chapter 32: The Voice of Healing**

Max's POV

_So, what do I have to do?_

_**Relax, and then just try to sense the consciousnesses around you. With my help, you should be able to feel Jeb's Voice. Then we'll just have to…well, for lack of a nicer word, shove our way in. Apart from the excruciating pain, it should be pretty easy.**_

_Okay. _I took a deep breath. _I can do this. Should I do a test run first? Try and sense stuff before I actually do it?_

_**That might be a good idea. Just calm your mind, and open yourself up to the world around you.**_

_You sound like some sort of meditation instructor._

_**I might as well be. That's basically what we're doing here.**_

I took another deep breath, closed my eyes, then tried blanking my mind. It was kind of hard not to think about anything, but I think I managed pretty well.

_**Good. I'm going to use my sensing abilities to help you reach out.**_

A moment later, I felt my…psychic senses, I guess, heighten suddenly. I could _feel_ the other people in the room. Even with my eyes closed, I knew where everyone was standing. After a minute, I realized I could sort of tell how they were all feeling as well. Gazzy was curious, probably about the Voices and Jeb. My mom was somewhere between irritated and sympathetic, probably also about Jeb. Iggy and Tess were in the corner talking, and I could feel the attraction zapping between them. Nudge was…oh, dear. Nudge was easier to read than the others, and I could pretty much tell what she was thinking. _It's so great that Max and Fang have gotten together. I mean, seriously, they were _so_ oblivious…_ Drat.

Oh well. I decided to deal with that later, and I opened my sense back up to everyone else. Fang was worried. Like, really, really worried. I don't know if it came from the connection we obviously had, but I could read him further than the others, and he was concerned on a really deep level. He was remembering what had happened to me when the Voice first made its appearance, and he was afraid that what I was about to do would be even worse than that. He was remembering how helpless he felt when I randomly started screaming because of the pain inside my head, and he didn't want to go through that again. I would really need to talk to him before I started this.

I turned my attention to Jeb, mostly to make sure that I could sense his Voice. I could. It really wasn't doing so great. I could feel its illness. I could also feel that Jeb was in way more pain than he was letting on. His Voice was really hurting him.

I withdrew from Jeb quickly. I didn't want to feel his pain right now. It was pretty awful, and I figured I'd be getting enough pain in a few minutes that I probably didn't need more now.

_**Excellent job. It seems as though we'll be able to do this.**_

_Good. After feeling that, I really want to help Jeb out. Even he doesn't deserve that._

_**Why don't you go talk to Fang, and then we can get started on this.**_

_Okay._

I uncrossed my legs and stood up from where I'd been sitting in a living room armchair. Everyone immediately turned to look at me.

"We can do it," I said. I suddenly felt extremely schizophrenic, referring to myself as "we". Having a Voice in my head was probably not to great for my sanity.

Relief spread across Jeb's face. "That's wonderful news. When do you want to do it?"

"In a minute," I replied. "Fang, can I talk to you for a sec?"

He looked a little confused, but he nodded, and we left the room. I went into the kitchen and shut the door, to make sure no one could hear us.

"I know how you feel," I said immediately.

His expression just became more confused. "What?"

Okay, bad place to start. "My Voice had me do a little psychic test, to make sure I could sense Jeb's Voice. It allowed me to feel everyone else in the room, and I could tell that you're really worried."

"Oh." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. I am."

"I know," I repeated. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. I don't really think you need to be so worried. I'm going to be fine."

"It just rings too much of when your Voice first showed up," he said, sounding frustrated. "I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now."

"I still need to do it, though," I said. "I'm going to, so the best thing you can do is just try and help."

"I'm going to." He started pacing, looking like a caged panther. That was when I knew how stressed he was about this. Fang never paced. He wasn't usually emotional enough for that. "That doesn't mean I can't worry."

I stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. "I know that. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with this."

"I'm not, but nothing's going to change that."

I looked up at him. He was telling the truth. He wasn't happy about it, and he never would be, but he wasn't going to try and stop me.

"Okay." I stretched up on the tips of my toes and kissed him softly. "I guess I'll have to live with that."

* * *

Fang's POV

I followed Max back to the living room. Why did she have to be so stubborn? While I could see why she wanted to help, I didn't want to have to deal with this. At least this time I didn't have to worry if she was going to suddenly have a brain attack and fall out of the sky. This would be a bit more controlled.

Dr. M had set up two large armchairs facing each other in the middle of the room. Jeb was already sitting in one of them, and Max sat down in the other one as soon as we came in.

"Are you ready?" Jeb asked solemnly, making it sound like Max was getting ready to have internal surgery done. Oh no, wait, Max was _doing_ the internal surgery. I clenched my jaw in frustration, wishing there was more I could do.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Max replied. She looked nervous, which wasn't really surprising. She crossed her legs and settled back in the armchair, eyes closed.

We waited for a few minutes, and then Jeb reacted. His eyes closed and he gripped the arms of his chair. He looked like he was in pain, so I wasn't too surprised when I heard Max whimper a moment later. I still reacted, though, going over to her and laying a hand on her arm. Any support I could give her, I would.

Max's eyes were squeezed tightly shut, and she looked like she was struggling with something, her jaw clenching and unclenching. Her whimpering grew louder and more frequent, until finally she cried out. I felt so _helpless_. I was just supposed to sit by and watch while she went through this?

I needed to do something, so I took her hand and started massaging it. I didn't know if I was helping, but it was better than doing nothing.

At some point, tears started running down Max's cheeks, and she screamed a couple of times. I assumed that Jeb was in a similar state of pain, but to be honest, I wasn't really paying attention to him.

It took _way_ too long. At one point I noticed that my shoulders and neck were sore, and then realized that it was because of how tense I was. I tried to relax, but I couldn't. Not when Max was sitting next to me in intense pain.

Finally, it was over. Max's cries turned back into whimpers and then faded away completely. She slumped back in her chair, tear tracks still evident against her skin. She looked completely and totally worn out, but still beautiful in my eyes.

It took almost five minutes, but Max's eyes eventually reopened. She coughed a couple times, then whispered hoarsely, "Where's Iggy?"

The birdboy in question stepped forward so that he was in Max's line of sight. "Yeah?"

She looked up at him. "Did you know that you have a Voice?"

* * *

**A/N: Okay, I have a special request of you reviewers. I seem to be in need of good music, so (using an idea I got from Phoenix Fanatic) I was hoping you guys could give me one or two of your favorite songs in your review. If you can't decide on them, just pick the one(s) you think a girl who listens to Queen, Rob Thomas/Matchbox Twenty, Paramore, and Evanescence, with a couple Breaking Benjamin and Michelle Branch thrown in for flavor would like. Any suggestions would be wonderful. **


	33. Birdkid Say What?

**A/N: I'm sorry, guys! I left you with a cliffie for way longer than was nice. Forgive me? **

**Oh, and thanks to everyone who reviewed with songs suggestions. =)**

**So, the last half of this chapter is really just filler fluff. Hope that's okay with you guys. There's only around five more chapters, I think, so everything is kind of wrapping up. Anyway, happy reading!  
**

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**Chapter 33: Birdkid Say What?**

Fang's POV

Iggy's eyebrows went up. "What? No I don't."

"Yeah, you do," Max insisted. "I guess it doesn't feel the need to communicate with you, but that's how you can sense stuff so well."

Iggy looked stunned. "I…wow…How do you know that anyway?"

Max shrugged. "Jeb's Voice has super sensing abilities. When I was in there, I sensed your V–" She broke off, coughing.

"Easy," I said quietly, rubbing her back. "Maybe you should get some rest."

She nodded wearily. "Good idea." She made to stand up, but her knees gave out on her. I caught her before she fell back into the chair and lifted her up into my arms. She protested a little, but I guess she was tired enough that she didn't really have the will to resist. She relaxed and let me carry her to the guest room, where I laid her on the bed and pulled the covers up over her.

"Sleep however long you need to," I said, stroking her hair. "I don't think we're in a hurry to leave."

"Okay," she whispered. "Thank you."

I nodded and kissed her forehead. "Any time."

I'm pretty sure she was asleep before I left the room.

* * *

Iggy's POV

Iggy didn't know what to make of this. Why did he have a Voice? He'd always thought of Max as the one with the Voice in her head, and, although he would never have told her, the one lucky enough to be a loony. Now he had one? He wasn't sure he was happy about that.

When Fang came back into the room and said that Max would probably be asleep for a while, Iggy said, "I need some air" and left the room. He headed out the front door and around behind the house. He suddenly realized how much he could sense that he probably shouldn't be able to. Maybe the Voice _was_ a good thing.

There was a little copse of trees, and he went in, finding a good place to sit at the base of a large tree.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do, but he decided to just try the first thing that came to mind.

_Um…Voice? Are you there?_

There was no answer for a while, and he felt kind of stupid, trying to talk to his own mind. After about a minute, though, he got a reply.

_**Yes.**_

That one word sent stabs of pain shooting through Iggy's skull. Remembering what Max had gone through when she first tried talking to her Voice, he suddenly thought that maybe this was a bad idea. Still, he needed answers to at least some of the hundreds of questions running around in his brain.

_Why are you here? How long have you been in my head?_

_**The answers will hurt, you know.**_

Yes, they certainly would. Just the Voice telling him that they would hurt made it hurt.

_I don't care. I want to know._

_**Okay. I've been here almost all your life. I first found you only a couple days after you became blind. I decided to help you, since I had the ability. I believe you had frequent migraines for about a week, and the scientists were worried that something was wrong with you. After the migraines stopped, though, they disregarded it.**_

He certainly had a migraine now. It was all he could do to stop himself from crying out.

_If I've already gone through the 'getting a Voice' stuff, why does it hurt so much now?_

_**I've never directly communicated with you before. Your brain is trying to fight the contact.**_

Brilliant. His own mind was working against him.

_When will it stop hurting?_

_**I don't know. It varies.**_

_But it will stop?_

_**Yes.**_

_Well, that's someth–_

He broke off his thought as his super-acute hearing picked up footsteps at the edge of the trees. Someone was coming. He could tell that it was Tess. It had never seemed odd to him that he knew who and where everyone was, but now he realized that it must be because of his Voice. He wasn't sure if that made him feel privileged or less independent.

What was Tess doing out here, anyway?

She made her way over to him and sat down, not saying anything. After a minute or two, Iggy decided to break the silence by asking her the same thing he'd just been thinking.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you. What else?"

Her response made him feel a little happy, knowing that she cared enough about him to want to find him. "Well, you found me."

"Yup."

After a few more moments of silence, Tess said, "You know, you don't look so hot. What were you doing out here?"

He shrugged. "Trying to contact this Voice that I seem to have. Apparently first contact is very painful."

"Ah." He could hear the empathy in her voice. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged again. "I'll deal."

"So, did you learn anything?"

"Yeah." He scratched his head, wondering how to word his explanation. "It's been with me since I lost my sight, helping me out, letting me sense things most people can't so I could still keep up with the flock. I was so young when it first showed up that I didn't remember the migraines I got because of it, so I never knew I had a Voice."

Iggy wondered if she could hear the rather lost tone in his voice, because she put a hand on his arm and asked, "How do _you_ feel about all this?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Max has always been the one with the Voice. She's the leader, you know? I'm just the blind kid. Why do I get one? Why not Fang? He's second-in-command." He paused. "I guess it makes me feel a little uncomfortable, like they're going to want something special from me now that I have this high-and-mighty Voice in my head."

Tess was silent for a minute. "I think you're worrying too much. I don't think the others are going to see you that much differently than you do now. I think you should feel lucky that your Voice picked you to help. Most blind people don't get that."

He thought about that for a second. "You know, I think maybe you're right. You're awfully wise."

When Tess replied, she sounded a little embarrassed. "Oh, I'm not that wise. I'm not really even that smart."

"What makes you say that?" Iggy asked. He didn't get why Tess would be putting herself down like that.

"Well, if I was smart," she said. "I wouldn't have lost touch with you after that first day in D.C."

"Hey, that was completely not your fault," he protested. "You didn't know we were gonna bail like that."

"Maybe not," she conceded. "Still, if I was smart I would've done this as soon as I saw you again."

"Done wh–" he started to ask, but he was cut off by the incredible sensation of Tess's lips on his own.

Despite all of his 'sexist pig' qualities, Iggy had never been kissed before. Growing up in a shack in the mountains with the only other kids his age obviously meant to be together sort of discouraged that. But even with nothing to compare it to, it was an amazing kiss.

Somehow, Tess ended up on his lap, her hands on his neck. He wound his arms around her, holding her tightly. When they finally broke apart, mostly from lack of air, he hugged her, in a state of semi-bliss.

"Honestly," he whispered in her ear. "I think it's better that you saved it. Less onlookers than the White House."

"I think you might be right."

* * *

Max's POV

I woke up sometime around two o'clock in the morning. It was pitch black in the guest room, so I just laid there for a minute, not wanting to get up and turn on the light.

I decided to take inventory:

Headache, but only a little leftover one

Sore throat, most likely from screaming

Rested eyes, from good, long sleep

Tingly, sleeping right arm, probably from being laid on by rest of body

Eh, not bad. I felt way better than I had when I'd first gone to sleep, which was good. If eight hours of sleep couldn't fix me, nothing could. I'd be a lost cause, doomed to be in pain for the rest of my life.

Okay, that may be exaggerating.

I finally mustered the will to get out of bed and turn on the light. My clothes were all crumpled and my hair was a mess, but really, since when do I care about that stuff? Well, okay, a little more than I used to. I'm blaming that on Fang, since I really don't care how anyone other than him thinks I look. There was nothing I could do about my appearance, though, so I wandered out into the hall.

The bathroom happened to be right across from the guest room, so I went in to both use it and to find a hairbrush. I did both, and managed to make myself look a bit less like I'd had a hawk nesting on my head.

I headed for the living room. It wasn't until I got there and saw my sleeping flock that I actually realized that it was two in the morning and no one was awake. There was no way I was going back to sleep, so I had no idea what to do.

"Hey, Max," said a quiet voice from the shadows. "You're awake."

Gee, guess who? Yes, the very same person who always gives me heart attacks when he randomly appears like that.

"Yes, I'm awake," I snapped. "Next time don't sneak up on me to say it." I paused, looking around. "Where are you, anyway?"

He slowly came into view, leaning against the door frame next to me and smirking that oh-so-incredibly-annoying smirk of his.

"Resorting to powers, are we?" I asked, putting a hand on my hip to emphasize my mock sternness. "How very dishonest of you."

He shrugged. "It's not like I needed it. I could've stood here all night without any invisibility and you still wouldn't have noticed."

I decided not to dignify that with a response (since he was, most unfortunately, probably right), and instead said, "I'm not going back to sleep, but no one else is up."

Fang raised an eyebrow. "I'm no one now, am I?"

"Well, no one besides you," I amended, then stopped, thinking about that. "You know, I bet that could solve my boredom troubles, actually."

He grinned. "Maybe."

"Don't you need to sleep though?"

"Nah. I got a couple hours while you were asleep." He held out his arms, gesturing to the house around us. "What do you suppose we do?"

"Relocate to the guest room so we don't wake anyone up," I suggested.

Fang agreed that it would probably be rude to continue talking so close to all the sleeping people, so we went back to the room I'd spent the last eight hours in. I plopped down on the bed, and after closing the door behind him, Fang followed suit.

"How's Iggy taking the whole Voice thing?" I asked. I'd just thought of it, and realized that Iggy may have some strong opinions on having a Voice in his head.

"Don't really know," Fang replied. "He went outside right after you told him, and then Tess followed him. They came back in fifteen minutes later with big dopey grins on their faces and shut themselves in the study. They came out for dinner and then we all went to bed. Never got a chance to ask him about it."

I narrowed my eyes at Fang's response. "Iggy and Tess shut themselves in the study?"

"Hey, it's not like we didn't all see it coming," he said.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "I know. Still complicates things though."

Fang leaned over and took my hand. "And you and me don't?"

"Not really," I replied, shaking my head. "Not as much. We're both in the flock, for one thing. And it's not like a whole lot changed when we started…you know…" I waved my free hand vaguely. "You know?"

Fang raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Sure."

I scowled at him. "You _do_ know, you're just being difficult."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Does that bother you?"

I sighed dramatically. "Perhaps."

He just shook his head at me, obviously not feeling that my acting was worth a response. Huh.

There was a long silence, then I said, "We need something to do."

Fang nodded. "Got any ideas?"

I flopped backward onto the pillows, forgetting that he still had my hand. He toppled over with me, landing half on top of me, half next to me.

"Oof," I complained. "Get off me, ya lump."

He rolled over so that he was lying next to me and raised himself up onto an elbow. "Was that your idea?"

I rolled my eyes. "No. That was an accident."

"I have an idea," he said, trailing his fingers down my arm in a way that didn't really leave a whole lot of room for doubt as to what his idea was. "Since we don't generally get a much alone time."

I rolled onto my side, propping myself up like he was. "You scoundrel," I teased.

"You'll have that," he replied. Then he leaned over and kissed me, and my world melted.

* * *

**A/N: I have a request to ask of you readers. See, I'm pretty sure at least ten people are reading this. However, last chapter I only got about four reviews. Possibly three. It made me sad. **

**So, this chapter, I would like **_**everyone**_** who is reading this to review. I repeat, EVERYONE WHO IS READING THIS. I don't care if it's anonymous and/or only a couple words. Just tell me that I have readers! Please and thank you.**

**And if you actually read my author's notes, please put the words 'Hungarian grapevines with large teeth' in your review somewhere (quote courtesy of my strangeness =P). I don't even care if you spell it wrong, so long as it's recognizable.**

**So now that I've made all my requirements, please review. =)**


	34. Parting Ways

**A/N: I READ FANG! Yep. Got it and finished it, both in the day it came out. I'm not going to say anything about it, for those of you who haven't read it yet, but if anyone who has read it wants to talk about it with me, please PM and say. =)**

**And thank you guys so much. You listened to me, and I got a whopping fourteen reviews! As opposed to the five I got on the last chapter. Thank you! Muchos love to all my readers/reviewers. I don't suppose any of you have the magical powers of making a cold go away, do you? That'd be really helpful right now. I feel awful. **

**I got off topic there. Sorry. Happy reading.  
**

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**Chapter 34: Parting Ways**

Max's POV

The next morning, we left for Washington D.C. yet again. Not all of us, though. For the third time in history, my flock willingly split up. The first time had been a mistake on everyone's part, and I never wanted anything like that to happen again. The second time I'd thought they'd be safe, but it had ended badly. Hopefully we didn't follow our track record.

So, a better beginning: The next morning, Fang, Nudge, and myself left for Washington D.C. yet again.

I called an extended flock meeting as soon as we were all awake, and we all gathered in the living room.

"We have to go to D.C.," I announced to the room-at-large. "I'm pretty sure all of you knew that, but I thought I'd tell you anyway. I'm planning on leaving this morning."

Fang and Nudge nodded, but Iggy wouldn't look at me.

"Iggy?" I asked. "What's up?"

"Um…I'm not going," he muttered.

"What?" I was flabbergasted. "Why not?"

"I don't want to carry Tess all the way across the country again," he said. "It was a bad idea last time. So I'm just going to stay here with her."

"Oh," I said hollowly. "I see."

"You understand, right Max?" Iggy asked, looking worried. "It's not that I don't want to go. I just don't want to leave."

"No, I get it," I told him. "It's okay." I turned to the others. "Okay, let's get ready. We leave immediately."

Gazzy cleared his throat. "Uh, Max?"

I looked at him warily. "Yeah, Gaz?"

"I actually don't want to go."

"Why not?" I asked. This wasn't like my flock. We all went, always. We stuck together. It was the way it'd always been, and I'd hoped it was the way it always would be. Apparently not.

Gazzy looked embarrassed. "I don't want to do this, Max. I don't want to see her again. It's worse every time. I'd rather just stay here. I mean, you don't really need me, right?"

Unfortunately, I couldn't say that I did without lying. I had a vague plan in my head, and I could really do it with just myself and Nudge. "No, I guess not." I swallowed. "If that's what you really want."

He nodded. "Sorry, Max."

I turned to Fang. "You're not going to stay, are you?" I could hear the tinge of desperation in my voice, which I can't really say I was proud of.

He smiled. "Not a chance."

I nearly sighed with relief, but managed to contain it. "Good." Finally, I turned to Nudge. "Nudge, I do actually need you for my plan to work properly. Please say you'll come with us."

"Yeah," she said, nodding grimly. "I'm not afraid to face her."

I could tell that Gazzy didn't much like the way Nudge worded her reply, but I sent him a sharp glance to tell him not to pursue it. The last thing we needed was to part ways with an argument.

"Okay, guys," I said. "Let's move out."

My mom stood up. "Be careful. I don't want you to get hurt, whether it's physically or emotionally. I know the impact Angel can have on you."

I nodded. "I know. I'll be fine. If my plan works, I shouldn't be in any danger, physically or emotionally."

"Okay." My mom held out a backpack. "I packed you some food and supplies."

"Thanks, Mom," I said, hugging her. "See you soon, I promise."

So, after a rather mushy goodbye scene, Fang, Nudge, and I took off across the country.

* * *

When we landed in D.C., we headed straight for the White House.

"How are we getting in this time?" I wondered out loud. "I doubt we'll get another random redhead who'll let us in with her school class."

Fang glanced at me, an eyebrow raised ever so slightly. But all he said was, "It's doubtful."

I scowled at his expression (which I somehow knew was mocking me a little). "What if we just stood outside and hoped she picked up our brain signals?"

Fang shrugged. "Might work." Then he stopped, and Nudge nearly ran into him. "Okay, that's weird."

"What is?" Nudge asked, looking around him. "I don't see anything weird."

Fang gestured around us. "Aren't there supposed to be people wandering around? This _is_ a rather large city."

I looked around. He was right; there were no people. Washington was deserted.

"Angel must've gotten here too," I said. "All the more reason to stop her."

"And it'll also make us way more noticeable," Nudge pointed out. "We'll be like, beacons. She should come out then, right?"

I shrugged. "Let's hope so."

We made our way to the White House, stopping about a hundred feet from it.

"Go on, Nudge," I said. "Skedaddle. I'll call you when we're ready."

Nudge nodded and flew up into the air above us.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, this chapter was really short. See, I wrote the next chapter before this one, so this was really just the chapter to connect chapter thirty-three to chapter thirty-five. Sorry. I'll get the next one up relatively soon since it's already written. It's just a matter of waiting for all my regulars to review. And anyone else, if they want to be nice. =)**


	35. Free Falling

**A/N: This is the last chapter I have currently prewritten, so you may have to wait a tad bit longer for the next chapter after this. I'll try to get it written soon, though. =)  
**

* * *

**Chapter 35: Free Falling**

Max's POV

"Are you sure you're ready?"

The question came from Fang, who was looking at me worriedly. I nodded slowly.

"I think so." I took a deep breath. "We'll see in a minute. Our plan seems to have worked; she's coming out."

We watched as Angel came out of the White House. She was moving at too leisurely a pace for my liking. It sort of gave the impression that she didn't really care what happened, because she knew she was the most powerful person around. Her smugness annoyed me.

Angel looked around for a moment before spotting us. As soon as she did, she began walking toward us, Firewing on her shoulder.

"Hello, Max," she said sweetly. "Hi, Fang." She cocked her head. "Do you want something?"

"Yes," I replied. "And I'm pretty sure you know exactly what it is."

Smirking, which eradicated any and all traces of sweetness, Angel nodded. "Uh-huh. I know it's not going to happen."

"You know that I can't get to you?" I asked. "You don't think I can manage to give you a taste of your own medicine? You don't think I can remind you of all that time we spent together? Of how you used to think of me as your mother? Of Celeste? Of Total? Of the fact that you had a family that loved you and you threw it away for power? You don't think I could do that?"

Somehow, I think I managed to surprise her. My plan to rapid-fire it at her so she wouldn't have time to read my mind seemed to have worked. Hopefully it had distracted her, too.

After a moment of regaining her composure, Angel replied, "I think you can. I just don't think reminding me will do any good."

"Maybe you don't," I said. "But I think it will do a little more than you think. And I have a secret weapon." Before she could read me to see what I was talking about, I shouted, "NUDGE!"

Fast as a freefalling brick, Nudge dived out of the sky, tackling Angel. I was right; Angel hadn't been expecting it. Nudge's superior weight and size nearly squished Angel flat, which succeeded in holding her where she was.

"Have at it, Nudge," I said, stepping back. Nudge had a lot of pent up rage about Angel's betrayal, and I was pretty sure that watching her finally release it was going to be rather interesting. And hopefully useful.

"Can't wait to see this," Fang said from beside me, copying my thoughts. "Hopefully it knocks some sense into Angel."

"Hopefully," I agreed.

Nudge had Angel pinned to the ground, and was pretty much sitting on top of her.

"You awful little witch," Nudge said quietly. "You think you're suddenly all that, but you're not. You may be powerful, but you're an idiot. Do remember the day, back at the house in Colorado, when we sat together in our room and played all day? I remember how happy you were. How innocent. That was the first day I really considered you my best friend. But now you're just a little girl who thinks she can get whatever she wants. You know what? You'll never be happy like that. I bet you haven't really been happy since you left the flock. You probably think you have, but you haven't. Not really."

I saw wetness start to well up in Angel's eyes. So Nudge _was_ getting through to her…

"In order to be happy, you need people," Nudge continued. "You need friends. You need family. You need someone who's always gonna be there for you. And you don't have that anymore. What do you have? A mind-controlled president and a parrot that only exists because you made it. The only people you ever really had, you turned your back on. And it's all because of this little Voice in your head that really, really wants to take over the world. Does that make you feel good, Angel? Does that make you feel special? 'Cause all it really makes you is weak-willed and stupid."

The fact that Angel didn't look at all angry about the insults told me that Nudge was getting somewhere. Instead, Angel was full-out crying now, tears streaming down her temples and into her soft, blond curls.

Nudge's voice softened. "Come back, Angel. I need my best friend back. All you have to do is get rid of your Voice."

"I can't." Angel's voice was quiet and cracked. "It's so strong…"

"You're stronger," Nudge said. "You can fight it. You can kick it out and be free again."

Angel shook her head miserably. "No. It'll win."

"Only if you keep up that attitude!" Nudge's voice was angry again. "You're better than that, Ange."

Angel's eyes squeezed shut, tears still leaking from the corners. Then they opened again. "No," she whispered. "There's only one way." She tried to sit up, but Nudge was still on top of her. "Let me up, Nudge."

Nudge frowned. "Why?"

"Because I'm going to get rid of it," Angel replied. "Let me up."

Nudge looked at me, the question evident in her eyes. I nodded reluctantly. If Angel thought she could get rid of her Voice, we had to let her try.

Nudge stood up, and Angel followed suit. Then, before any of us could do anything, she took off into the air, small white wings carrying her quickly back toward the White House.

"I knew it!" Nudge yelled angrily. "She was just messing with us again!"

"I don't think so," Fang said quietly. "Look."

We looked. Angel was veering toward the Washington Monument, climbing through the air until she was level with the top of it.

"What's she going to do?" I whispered, even though I was pretty sure I knew.

"She's going to jump," Fang said. "She thinks the only way to get rid of it is to kill herself."

Nudge laughed, though it sounded a little forced. "Doesn't she know she's got wings?"

"She doesn't have to open them," I said. "Then she'll be just like any normal person trying to commit suicide."

* * *

Angel's POV

_**Angel! What are you doing?!**_

Angel didn't reply. She landed lightly on the pointy top of the Washington Monument, staring down into the space below. It was a _long, long_ drop. Perfect.

_**Angel! ANGEL!**_

She jumped.

It felt weird to be falling through open air and not open her wings. In fact, she had to work very hard to combat the instinct that told her to do so, to save herself. It was like trying not to breath for more than fifteen seconds (well, more for her; she had super-lungs), but somehow, she did it.

_**ANGEL!!!!!! Stop this madness NOW!**_

Still she ignored it.

It really was handy to have a five hundred and fifty-five foot monument nearby. (She'd learned that little height fact recently, when the president let her sit in on a meeting with an inspection man.)

_**I don't care how tall it is! Open your wings and save yourself!**_

Finally, she decided to reply. _Why?_

The Voice seemed taken aback by her question. _**Because…because it'll ruin all of our plans. You can't control the president if you're dead! You can't live in luxury in the finest suite in America if you're dead! STOP FALLING!!!**_

_No. _

The ground was rushing closer, faster than she'd anticipated. It was kind of neat, watching the ground come closer…closer…closer…

_**ANGEL!!!!!!!!!! This is your last chance!**_

_No._

_**You'll regret this when you're dead, I swear you will!**_

_Don't care._

_**You're really going to kill yourself to stop me?**_

_If that's what it takes._

_**You're the largest moron in the entire country! I'm going to find someone else to take over with me!**_

_You do that._

_**I can't believe I ever thought you had potential. GOODBYE, YOU DISAPPOINTING FREAK OF NATURE!!!!**_

Angel smiled to herself. It was disappointed? She was even more disappointed by its obvious tyrannical immaturity…wow, she used some really big words in there. Max would've been proud.

Suddenly, with a wrenching pain, Angel felt her Voice tear itself out of her brain. It was gone. She was free…

…and falling to Earth really, really fast.

_C'est la vie._

* * *

Max's POV

We watched in horror as Angel fell from the top of the monument. Why was she doing this? It couldn't be the only way, could it?

Time seemed to slow, but I knew that it was just an illusion. Time was still moving, Angel was still falling.

"We have to do something!" Nudge exclaimed. "She shouldn't have to do this. She's only six!"

"Seven," I whispered. "I'm sure she is by now, anyway."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Nudge said desperately. "She's too young!"

"I know," I replied.

"She made the decision," Fang said. "She's acting far beyond her age right now. We should all be proud of her, I think."

"Proud?" Nudge practically shrieked. "She's killing herself! Why should we be _proud_?"

"Because she's being strong," I said. "She's being selfless."

"I don't care!" Nudge wailed. "I don't want her to die!"

"We know, Nudge," Fang said. "None of us do, but I don't think we've got a choice anymore."

Nudge, tears pouring down her cheeks, fell to the ground, her arms around her knees. She stared up at the little speck that was Angel, and we all watched until it fell below the roofline and out of sight.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, I know it's kinda sad, but I really like this chapter. Writing dramatic stuff is just so much fun. =) Only one or two more chapters now, though. The story is almost over…**


	36. Epilogue

**A/N: Here's the epilogue. I actually have nothing else to say, so on with the story!  
**

* * *

**Epilogue**

Max's POV

I was numb all the way back to Arizona. I think Fang and Nudge were in a similar state of shock, because neither of them said anything for the whole flight.

I don't know how I'd expected our encounter with Angel to go, but it certainly wasn't like this. Yes, I'd been annoyed and angry with her, but I had _never_ wanted her to die. And then she'd killed herself. What was I supposed to do about that? How was I supposed to the flock? Gazzy would be destroyed. I didn't think I could handle this.

But I would. I always did.

After all, I was Maximum Ride.

* * *

It didn't go well.

The flock was horrified. Gazzy tried to be stoic, but he eventually broke down into tears. Everyone else acted a lot like I had; stunned and numb. It was like when Angel had first left us, just ten times worse. And luckily without the shouting matches between Nudge and Gazzy.

I don't really feel like going into it. It was bad, but we had to deal, and over time, we would. Thinking about it more than was necessary was just going to make it worse, which obviously wouldn't be helpful.

I was in the guest room, staring blankly into space, when I something randomly popped into my head. It was Fang's voice, saying, "Have you ever considered being a writer? You really have a way with words."

I don't know why that decided to come back to me just then, but it made me think. Maybe dwelling on it wouldn't help, but there was a better way to work it through my system. Hopefully. Maybe it wouldn't work, but what could it hurt? The most it would do would be to make me temporarily emo…Okay, never mind that. I was going to try it anyway.

I went over to the desk and opened up the laptop that we'd stolen from Itex. I'm not sure how it ended up there; Fang probably left it there on accident. I clicked on the icon for Microsoft Word and waited as it launched the program. Then I settled myself down and began to type…

_Really. People can be so annoying sometimes. It was getting to the point where I just wanted to strangle someone to vent…_

Time to document one of the most traumatic times of my life.

* * *

**A/N: Short, yes. Sorry about that. 'Twas necessary.**

**ATTENTION, READERS! DO NOT GO AWAY! If you're the sort of person who takes stories off of your update alerts when they're done, please refrain from doing so for this one. I'm going to post something else no later than next Tuesday. Thank you.**


	37. The Other Epilogue

**A/N: Yeah, I stole the chapter title from FANG. No, it won't be as [insert word-that-I'm-not-using-so-I-don't-spoil-the-end-of-FANG-for-anyone here] as that one was. (Hopefully anyone who **_**has**_** read FANG knows what sort of word I was avoiding saying.) **

**I think Below-The-Ice will be disappointed with this chapter, but hopefully everyone else likes it...  
**

* * *

**The Other Epilogue**

Max's POV

It was two weeks later. I'd finished my memoir. Fang had come into the guest room to find me crying my eyes out as I typed the last chapter…yeah, that wasn't pretty. Still, I'd managed it, and I think it helped me deal with everything, strangely enough.

And I'd discovered that I actually wasn't a half-bad writer. Fang could add that to his 'List Of Things I Was Right About'. He'd started it a little while ago, and it was growing far too fast for my liking. I almost felt like starting a companion 'List Of Things Fang Was Wrong About', but it always seemed like too much effort, especially while I spending all my time on my memoir.

I was heading to the study, where a hundred and thirty pages of my life were spewing out of the printer, when the doorbell rang. I didn't change course; I figured Mom or Ella would get it.

They must have, because it didn't keep ringing, and I heard voices at the front door. I watched the printer for a few minutes until it finished, then I pulled the paper out and admired the feel of a real manuscript in my hands. It felt good, knowing I'd written that. Maybe I'd found my calling, as a writer.

I left the study with the manuscript in my hands, and ran into Fang.

"Oh, hi," I said distractedly. I held out my hands. "I finished it."

He looked down at the bundle of papers. "That's great, Max. Nice job. When do I get to read it?"

I shrugged. "Whenever. You can be my first editor."

"Awesome," he replied, smiling. "Should be fun."

I was about to hand it to him when my mom came around the corner. "Max," she said, her voice urgent. "Come here." She glanced at Fang. "You too. You'll probably want to hear it as well."

Mystified, we followed her into the kitchen. A doctor was sitting at the table, which made me immediately suspicious. Everyone knows my dislike of doctors.

"What is it?" I asked, not particularly nicely.

"It's about your sister," the doctor said. "She's in the hospital."

"Nudge?" I asked, dread filling me. "Why?"

He shook his head. "Not Nudge. Nudge is fine."

I frowned. If it wasn't Nudge, then…

No. It couldn't be.

"You mean…Angel?" I asked hoarsely.

"Yes," the doctor replied. "She was badly injured when she fell from the Washington Monument. Why she didn't use her wings, we may never know." He sighed. "She's being well cared for, but we thought it would be best if her family came to see her."

My head was spinning, and I think I started to fall over. Fang put a hand on my arm to support me, and asked the doctor, "So…she's alive?"

"Of course," the doctor replied. "Would you like to go see her?"

I nodded vehemently. "Please. As soon as possible."

The doctor stood up. "Right then. Let's go."

As we followed him, I looked up at Fang. "Looks like I'll be adding another chapter."

He smiled. "Looks like."

* * *

**A/N: And vóila. The end. This time for real.**

**Since I know I'm going to be getting requests for one, I'm just going to say now that I will not be writing a sequel to this story. Not for a very long time, at least. If I ever do (which is very unlikely), I promise to put another chapter up here to tell you all, and if any of you are still interested at that point, you can go read it. 'Kay?**

**So, a huge, ginormous thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers. I know this is what everyone says in their last AN, but you guys really are what kept me writing this story. Or at least updating in a (relatively) timely fashion. Thank you, thank you, thank you.**

**So…the end has come. Almost a year of writing this story, and now it's over. (pauses) Okay, I'm over the sadness. =P**

**One last review?**


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